What We Need
by The Lady Mage
Summary: No one knew exactly what disassimilation would entail- not totally. A sharp separation between Collective and Individual, yes, but beyond that? What would happen if the break had a deeper effect on the Borg children? When Mezoti and the others need a little extra assistance, can Seven adapt to help them through it? WIP Eventual C/7
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: Hello and Welcome to yet another story. This one stemmed from the fact that having Mezoti leave Voyager with the twins has always bothered me. I really think that she and Seven bonded to a point, and that she wouldn't just choose to take off on a whim. Also, I think that the children would have had more problems coming away from the Collective than what the canon show has for them. You can't traumatize a person, mutilate their body, and then have them be all sunshine and roses afterwards 24/7. Seven had a terrible time- and yes she was Borg for far longer, but she was the same age roughly as the Borglings were when she was assimilated.**

 **Anyway, thank you to Scifiromance, Starshine, and Waya for letting me tell them a story! Love you guys! This one has been a long time coming, and thank you so much for putting up with my random BUT WHAT IF-?'s**

 **Obligatory Legalities: I do not own Star Trek, and make no money from this story.**

 **XXX**

 _Januray 18, 2377_

 **XXX**

"You missed!" Azan laughed at his twin, jogging to the bouncing blue ball that had whizzed past his body seconds before. "My turn!" He said, lifting the ball and turning predatory eyes on his brother.

"..Crap." Rebi dodged behind a barrel as the blue orb was hurled his way.

"If you damage any of the equipment in this room," Icheb began, his voice loud and authoritative though he never looked up from his work at the console in front of him, "Seven and the Captain would not be very pleased with you."

"We haven't broken anything." argued Rebi, scooping the ball up as it rolled to a stop along the far wall.

"We are only playing." Azan put his hands on his hips. "Seven has designated this time slot for fun in her absence, has she not?"

The oldest Borgling turned and looked at the more assertive of the twins with a cocked eyebrow. "She has. However, she has not designated this time slot for damaging equipment." he said sternly.

"She hasn't initiated any punishment protocols in nine days." said the bolder twin. "She lets us play now."

Icheb's look turned into a scowl. "She has not initiated any punishment protocols due to our good behavior. That is a pattern that could easily be broken." He looked from one twin to the next. "Do be careful."

"We are." said Rebi, hurling the ball at his brother. The blue sphere made contact with Azan's shoulder with a loud slap, then bounced off to the far corner of the room. "Got you!" taunted the boy, running off after the ball.

"Cheater!" The twin gave chase, disappearing behind the line of crates.

Icheb shook his head with a roll of his eyes, before returning to his calculations.

"Come on, Mezoti." Naomi said quietly, holding the brown-haired doll out to her friend. The smallest of the Borglings paid her little mind, shaking her head once and tightening her arms across her belly. "Why don't you want to play with me?"

Mezoti couldn't make herself look up from the floor, huddled in on herself at the foot of Seven's alcove. Seven hadn't been gone for an hour yet, but to Mezoti, it felt like it had been days. The little girl didn't like this feeling... like her whole world was about to crash in on itself- like the Borg queen was waiting for them all just behind the next star- like the ship was about to be bombarded with a deadly dose of toxic radiation- like some contaminant in Neelix's cooking was about to poison them all to death- like any moment, a ship full of Norcadians was going to come and try to lay claim to her. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, glad that her hair hid her face from the others, and curled her legs up to her chest. Inside her head, she tried to repeat to herself, ' _Seven will be right back. Seven will be right back. Seven will be right back._ ' She had been without her before and not had such circular thoughts. Why was she plagued now? How long had it been now? A bead of sweat rolled down her temple to her cheek, joining with a teardrop.

"I thought you liked to braid hair?" Naomi said, growing tired of being ignored. She let both dolls drop down on the dais next to Mezoti, and turned her attention to Icheb. "What'cha working on?"

The older boy looked up at her briefly, but his eyes were drawn to his youngest sibling instead of the redhead. He frowned at the girl's obviously distressed posture, but being unsure as to how to help her, instead tried to distract Naomi away from her. "A report for the Doctor on genealogy. Would you like to assist me?"

Naomi gave Mezoti's quiet form one last hopeful glance. The other girl's pose had not changed. With a sigh, the redhead turned back to Icheb. "Very well."

Mezoti watched Naomi's feet walk away from her with a small, relieved sigh as she continued to try to process her thoughts- to name the emotions she felt with them- but it was all becoming so overwhelming. When had this began? What happened to her? Why did she feel so damaged?

"Though I wasn't on my home planet for long, I did manage to absorb quite a bit of knowledge of.."

Icheb's voice trailed off into Mezoti's head, becoming a bit of white noise in the back of her mind. Home planet.. How could he call that horrible place a home? The Captain had been so eager to see her brother off the ship, leaving him with those horrible people who called themselves his family. No mother would just give her son away to the Borg, would she? Only Seven had been able to see through the ruse. Only Seven's quick thinking and persistence had saved Icheb from reassimilation. Only Seven had tried to protect them.

Only Seven could protect her.

"When is Seven coming back?" The sorrowful tone of her voice was enough to glean the attention of the others, and she bit her lip, refusing to look up at them.

Icheb's voice was soft. "She didn't say how long she would be away, but I would assume she will return soon."

"What's wrong, Zotti?" Rebi asked, walking over to the dais. Azan followed him, the blue ball under his arm.

"What's the matter, Mezoti?" Naomi asked, worried, as she walked back to the dais.

"I need Seven." Mezoti said in a small voice.

Azan snickered. "Are you crying?" Rebi elbowed his side, silencing him.

"Shut up." Naomi said to the twin, stepping up and putting her hand on Mezoti's shoulder, noting that the girl was trembling. "Mezoti, what's wrong?"

"I just.." the girl murmured. "I need her back. I can't.. I just.."

"She's only on the bridge." said Azan, turning to go back to his game, annoyed when Rebi didn't immediately follow him. "Don't be a baby."

"I'm not a baby!" Mezoti finally looked up to glare at the boy. "I'm not!"

"Babies cry." dismissed Azan. "Borg don't cry."

"We are no longer Borg." Icheb said sternly, turning to Azan. "If you don't stop teasing her, I'll tell Seven you were throwing that ball around in the cargo bay." The athletic twin scowled, turning and storming off. His quieter brother sighed, turning to catch up to him. Icheb turned his attention back to Mezoti. "Are you damaged?"

"No, I just need Seven back." Her tears were flowing freely now, and her stomach was twisting up in knots, thickening her throat. "Now!"

"She's working on-"

"I don't care!" Mezoti insisted, her voice growing shrill. "I want her back! I can't be here like this- I need her!" Naomi tried to put an arm around her shoulders, but she dodged away, slipping off the dais. " _Don't touch me!_ "

"Zotti, calm down." Icheb said, rounding the dais and stepping beside her. "She will be right back."

" _UNACCEPTABLE!_ " The brunette gagged behind her hand, the sound turning into a sob as she dropped back to the floor, hunched into a ball again. "She needs to come _BACK! NOW!_ "

Icheb watched Mezoti rock in place, crying loudly. Behind him, he felt the twins come back to see, standing silent and sentinel as their younger sibling wailed on the floor. He raised his hand to his com badge. "Icheb to Seven of Nine."

 ***** _~"Yes, Icheb?"~_ *****

"Your presence is required in Cargo Bay 2."

 **XXX**

When Icheb had summoned her back to the cargo bay, there had been a nagging feeling in the back of her head- a feeling she was coming to listen to a lot more often- that she knew just what was wrong. It had been there to warn her about the baby Borgling's maturation chamber. It had warned her that something was.. off.. about Icheb's birth parents. It had warned her just the other day that Azan and Rebi were no longer in their alcoves and were in fact trying to see which could balance better along the railing around the loft over the bay. Now, it was telling her that something was wrong with her most individual of charges. Seven sighed almost imperceptively, logging out of her console on the bridge.

"Twins fighting again?" Chakotay asked light-heartedly over his shoulder from his chair.

"Your odds of being correct are fairly high." returned the ex-drone. "I will continue my work from Astrometrics once I am through with the children."

Chakotay nodded once, turning to Harry. "Harry, take over for her while she is busy with the kids. The Captain has to be out there somewhere."

"We'll find them." said Tom. "Really, if I had to spend more than a few minutes on a shuttle with Mortimer Harren I'd swim back to Voyager in an enviromental suit.." Behind them, Harry snorted.

"Let's hope you're right." said Chakotay. "And hope the Captain is a strong swimmer."

 **XXX**

Seven entered and exited the turbolift, walking down the corridor past Astrometrics and towards the cargo bay. She was still ten meters away when she could hear the noise coming from inside. Mezoti was screaming. With wide eyes, she quickened her pace.

"She's coming, Mezoti!" Icheb was saying when Seven entered. The littlest Borgling was huddled down on the floor, hands clamped over her ears as she cried great heaving sobs. The twins were watching solemnly from the safety of her alcove. Icheb and Naomi hovered near their distressed peer without touching her.

"What is going on here?" Seven asked. Mezoti, upon hearing Seven's voice, shot at her like a blur, impacting with the tall blonde so hard that they both sprawled on the floor. Seven sat up with a wince as Mezoti scrambled into her lap, small arms wrapping tight around her ribs and little legs locking around her waist. "Mezoti, are you damaged?"

The little girl didn't seem to hear her, so caught up in whatever was going on inside her head that all she could do was cry, clinging to Seven as she begged, "Please don't leave me! Please don't go away! Please, Seven! Please stay with me, please!"

Seven looked up at the other children watching them with worried eyes. "Explain."

"She just.. started crying!" said Naomi, stepping forward with her hands held out placatingly. Her little brows drew together. "I tried to get her to play, but she didn't want to."

Icheb nodded. "I had noticed her distress earlier after you left the bay, but I did not realize that it would escalate to.. this." He looked at the back of his sibling's head with a touch of sympathy. "She asked for you."

"You left! Don't leave me!" Mezoti cried into Seven's shoulder, hiding her face against Seven's neck. "You can't leave me!"

To say Seven was surprised would be an understatement. Her mind whirled for a heartbeat or two, unsure of what needed to be done, before her maternal instincts kicked in enough to wrap her arms around the crying girl, but not enough to help her calm Mezoti down. Not knowing what else to do for her, she unconsciously glanced up at the little microphone in the ceiling. "Computer, two for site to site transport to sickbay. Mark."

When they reappeared in a shimmer of static in sickbay, they were on the floor of the surgical suite, Mezoti continuing to sob against her throat as Seven struggled to stand up with the Borgling attached to her like a little Norcadian leech. "Mezoti, you must release me." she said, giving the child's arms a little tug from her ribs.

" _No-no-no-no-no!_ " Mezoti squealed, clenching tighter.

Seven frowned, reaching up and grabbing the edge of the biobed beside them, using the strength of her arms to help pull her up enough to awkwardly stand. Mezoti didn't give an inch, still so tightly clenched around the blonde's body that it was hard for Seven to draw in a full breath. "Computer, active EMH."

The Doctor shimmered into existence seconds later, eyes scanning the room until he came to them. "What seems to be the nature of the medical emergency?"

"Help." Seven said quickly, leaning against the biobed and using her arms to support the eight year old's slight weight. "Mezoti is damaged."

"Damaged?" The Doctor grabbed the nearest tricorder and quickly moved to scan the girl. Meanwhile, Mezoti continued to cry- great, heaving sobs that shook her whole frame. "Mezoti, where are you hurt?" he asked, running his blinking scanner around Mezoti's head, and down her back. "..Elevated blood pressure, blood chemistry is a little off.." He reached out to take the girl's pulse. The second his hand touched her wrist, she shrieked, jerking her arm away from him and nearly toppling herself and Seven over.

"What is wrong?" Seven asked, righting them before her balance was lost. Her own anxiety levels were rising the longer the Borgling was distressed.

"She isn't physically hurt, Seven. Considering her symptoms, I think she's just suffering from some kind of panic attack." answered the Doctor, his face a slight frown. He put the tricorder away, watching the little girl with a pitying expression.

Seven blanched, turning to look down at the little girl. She had had a few of those in her short individual life, and knew how unpleasant they were. "Mezoti? Look at me."

"No- don't let me go! Please stay with me- don't go! I need you! Please! Please, I need you, Seven.." whimpered the girl.

"I'm right here." Seven said, one hand moving to rub the little girl's back. "I'm not going anywhere."

The Doctor lifted a hypospray from the little tray of tools beside the surgical biobed, dialing in a dose and held it up. "This is a mild sedative." he said to Seven. "It will calm her down." The hypo was pressed against Mezoti's throat, hissing quickly as the medicine was injected into her carotid artery. In seconds she began to quiet before going limp in Seven's arms.

The blonde quickly readjusted her hold on Mezoti, sitting on the edge of the biobed with her, one hand continuing to rub her back in a comforting manner. "Will she be okay, Doctor?"

"Oh, yes." said the EMH. "The hypo will allow her to calm down and her body to rest. Her blood pressure should stabilize quickly enough, and she will wake up, hopefully, feeling better."

Seven looked down at the limp little girl, leaning her down enough to be able to see her face, still wet with tears, but as serene as when she regenerated. She tucked a loose strand of brown hair behind Mezoti's ear, cradling her close in worry. "Why would she.. what would prompt a panic attack..?" she asked softly, more to herself than anyone else.

"She's been through quite a bit of trauma in her short life." said the Doctor, moving to the console to make his report. "It isn't surprising that it would catch up to her- and with a vengeance." He opened a com channel. "Doctor to Commander Chakotay."

"Do you think that the boys will suffer similar.. episodes?"

 ***** _"Yes, Doctor?"_ ***** Chakotay's voice came overhead from the bridge.

"Report to sickbay, please." When Seven cocked an eyebrow, the Doctor continued. "In the Captain's absence, I must report every sickbay visit for either yourself or the children to the Commander, Seven. You know the rules."

The blonde nodded once, scooting farther back onto the biobed, and pulling Mezoti closer to her. Even sedated, the little girl's hands continued to clutch at Seven's side, unwilling to let go. Seven watched her face with concern, wondering just what had gone on in the little girl's head before she returned to the cargo bay.

It was several minutes later before Chakotay walked into the room, his gait brisk and his patience obviously close to being shot. His eyes scanned the bay for the Doctor, pausing for a second on Seven as he took in the worried expression on her usually stoic face. The robotic veil had been lifted and now Seven was watching the unconscious little girl cuddled to her with a look of pure concern. If she had worn her hair down and had on a uniform, he would have mistaken her at first glance for Samantha holding a sick Naomi. He frowned as the Doctor approached him, tossing the surprise and curiosity behind him. "Yes, Doctor?"

"Since the Captain is not here, and you are acting captain in her absence," the Doctor began, pulling up Mezoti's chart on the screen at the main console, "Then I must report any sickbay visit by the children directly to you."

"I see." said Chakotay. "Is Mezoti sick?"

"Not quite." answered the Doctor. "Seven brought her to me in the middle of an anxiety attack. She required-"

Chakotay frowned. "An anxiety attack?"

"The sudden onset of intense anxiety, characterized by feelings of intense fear and apprehension and accompanied by palpitations, shortness of breath, sweating, dizziness, and trembling." said the Doctor. "Textbook symptoms. She required sedation before-"

"Wait, wait, wait-" Chakotay cut in. "You sedated a _child_ -" Chakotay nearly dropped his jaw, his eyes flashing from the unconscious little girl cradled in Seven's arms and back to the EMH. The doctor at least had the good sense to look chastised. "-For having a panic attack?! What would you do for a hangnail?! Surgery?!" He crossed the room to stand in front of the two ex-drones, looking concernedly down at Mezoti's limp form. "The poor thing- he didn't even give her the chance to try to calm down on her own?"

Seven felt a little compelled to not necessarily make an excuse for the doctor but to perhaps soften Chakotay's reaction. One more glance down at the little girl she held and her mind changed. "No. He did not." She answered softly, "She was inconsolable."

"What did she say?"

Seven pursed her lips, her anxiety levels still high. "She begged me not to.. to leave her." She said, her tone of voice softer than usual though her enunciation was just as precise. In her arms, Mezoti frowned in her drug-induced sleep, turning her head back towards Seven's body, unconsciously trying to keep close to her.

Chakotay frowned, confused. "Leave her?"

Seven nodded confirmation.

"People become confused when they have panic attacks." said the Doctor, turning the hypospray around in his hands. "It is very overwhelming. That's why it's an attack."

"I'm aware." Chakotay said dismissively. "How long until she wakes up?"

"Considering I only gave her a minuscule dose, and that her nanoprobes will run through it twice as fast as a typical eight year old humanoid would, I would say within the next ten minutes or so." Answered the hologram, continuing to worry his hypospray.

"Guess we just have to wait then." The Commander said with a sigh, hopping up onto the bio bed next to Seven.

"Commander?" Seven turned to him with brows drawn.

"You can't just knock her out for ten minutes and think she's gonna be all better when she wakes back up." Chakotay explained. "When she wakes up, we can talk to her and see if we can't get to the root of the problem." He gave Seven a reassuring smile. "We'll make her feel better." The small smile and nod she returned was grateful. Her eyes were still dark cerulean with worry, but her posture seemed more assured. "Tuvok can handle the bridge while I'm down here."

Seven nodded. "Still no sign of the shuttle?"

"No." Chakotay shook his head. "But the Captain is resourceful. I'm sure she is out there waiting on us to reel them back in."

Mezoti grunted again, her body twisting into Seven's. "..noooooo.." she moaned, tiny hands clenching against Seven's arm around her body. "..don't.. leave.."

"I am right here, Mezoti." Seven shifted the little girl again so that her head rested on her shoulder, and her bottom was seated in Seven's lap. Seven rubbed Mezoti's back in what she hoped was a soothing gesture. Honestly, she still floundered now and then trying to figure out just what the children required of her, and she was still unused to the level of physical contact that the youngest three expected.

"Has she ever had any kind of episode like this before?" Chakotay asked Seven, watching with interest as the typically hands-off woman practically cuddled the little girl in her arms.

"No." Seven shook her head.

"Hopefully it will be a one-off then." said the commander.

"..Seven..?" Mezoti's eyes blinked open, quickly filling with tears again as she looked fearfully around the medical bay. She clung to Seven's frame, her arms wrapping around her guardian's neck as she trembled in her lap. "Why are we here?"

"You had a panic attack, Mezoti." Chakotay said calmly beside them.

The little girl whimpered, hiding her face against Seven's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry." said Chakotay.

"You haven't done anything wrong." Seven soothed softly. "Do not be sorry."

"I.. malfunctioned." Mezoti whimpered fearfully, her voice going higher as she began to panic again. "Why did I malfunction? I am damaged! Can I be repaired?"

"There is nothing to repair, Mezoti." Chakotay reached over and pat the girl's back. "What were you thinking about when you started to feel upset?"

Mezoti tensed, turning her head from Seven's shoulder to the commander beside them. "Seven.. was gone." answered the little girl.

"I was only on the bridge, _sötnos._ " said the blonde, her voice the same soothing tone she had used with Naomi when the girl had been younger and afraid.

The little girl in her arms hushed, pulling back from Seven's arms enough to look into her guardian's blue eyes. " _Sötnos?_ " she repeated in near wonder, a happy grin taking over her face. "You have designated me with a.. term of endearment?" The girl cocked her head to the side. "Am I endeared to you then?"

Seven nearly scowled, her eyes ghosting to Chakotay's as she felt her cheeks pinken. "You are." confirmed the blonde with a short nod. "As are the other children."

"You have not designated the others as _sötnos_." Mezoti pointed out, letting her arms drop back to her lap so that she merely sat on Seven's lap without having to cling.

" _Sötnos?_ " Chakotay grinned, amused by the idea of Seven calling anyone anything beyond their full name, and glad that the little girl seemed to be perking up. "What does that mean?"

"It is Swedish, Commander." answered Mezoti, tapping her finger on the tip of her button nose. "It means sweet nose. A common endearment for children and loved ones." She met Seven's eyes, her hand falling back into her lap. "Is that correct, Seven?" When the blonde gave her another short nod, Mezoti smiled, using the back of her arm to dry the tears from her face.

"Swedish, huh?" Chakotay asked, his eyebrows curiously raised. "My mother used to call me _shíyázhí_ when I was little." he said, his voice soft like he was sharing a secret with the Borgling. "It means little son."

Mezoti's eyebrows raised in mimicry of his. "Is there a word for little daughter, too?"

At that question, Chakotay leaned back straight, his eyes turning up to the ceiling as he thought. After a few seconds, he frowned. "You know, I don't know if there is or not." He grinned again. "My mother certainly never called me her daughter. Honestly, the word is Navajo, but I don't think my mother had a drop of Navajo blood. She just liked the way the word sounded, so she used it. She called my sister _cariño_. Means sweetheart."

Mezoti's grin widened. "Spanish?"

" _Sí, cariño._ " He chuckled at the little flare of pink on the girl's cheeks as she shyly smiled, leaning back into Seven's body. He pat her knee. "Do you feel better, Mezoti?"

"Yes, Commander." she answered with a short nod- a perfect mimicry of Seven's gesture.

"Do you wish to rejoin the other children now?" asked Seven.

After a few seconds of deliberation, the child shook her head. "Seven, can I stay in Astrometrics with you? Just for a little while?"

"I must return to the bridge, Mezoti." Seven answered with a frown. "I cannot take you with me."

Chakotay gently cut in with a relaxed wave of his hand. "She's been through an ordeal, Seven. You can finish out your shift in Astrometrics so she can stay with you."

"That's a good idea." said the Doctor. "She should have someone watching after her today." He smiled at Seven as he finished inputting his notes for the girl's file. "If she shows any signs of having a repeat.. event.. don't hesitate to bring her back by."

The Commander rolled his eyes, sliding off the biobed. "Sedation is not a solution, Doctor."

"Very well." Seven said, supporting Mezoti's weight long enough to stand before letting the eight year old support her own weight. She was unsurprised when Mezoti was quick to take possession of her hand, and for a few seconds, gave the smaller fingers a gentle squeeze. "You may sit and do your lessons while I finish mapping the Class T Cluster."

"Yes, Seven." vowed the child, turning her face up to meet her guardian's eyes. "I'll be good. Promise."

Satisfied, and willing to do what was necessary to help the smallest of her charges to feel better, Seven gave the child a nod before bidding the Doctor and Commander a good day. She tightened her hold on the small hand held in her own, then lead Mezoti out into the corridor and back towards the turbolift.

Chakotay watched the two ex-Borg leave with a small smile. Maybe Seven was finally taking his advice over the children to heart and loosening up. Though he was a little worried about Mezoti's anxiety attack, he couldn't help but smile. Not two months ago, Seven was requesting he take guardianship of the children from her to give to someone else 'more suitable' for the task. Obviously she and the children had bonded in some manner since then. In a way, it made him a little proud for having encouraged her. Really, who should be more suitable to mentor to four little ex-Borg children than an ex-Borg herself? Who else would be able to see the world through their eyes? Perhaps the next time he stepped in to give them their lessons, he-

"Commander, if you would please sign off on this?"

Chakotay's thoughts were interrupted by the Doctor at his console. "Hmm?"

The Doctor gestured to the report on the screen. "Oh, I just need you to approve this so I can file it. The Captain usually does it, but since she-"

"Yes, yes." Chakotay waved him off, not wanting to be reminded about the Captain and her three underlings being lost in the Class T Cluster. "Carry on. I'll be on the bridge." The Commander walked to the doors, pausing when they slid open and turning back to the holographic man. "If Mezoti has any more panic attacks, let me know."

"You will be notified in the event that any of the little Borglings come to sickbay."

Chakotay nodded. "Good."

 **XXX**

 **Love it? Hate it? Tell me in a review!**

 **~LM**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes: Welcome to Chapter 2 of What We Need! Thank so much for reading! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I do feel a bit bad, the things I'm putting my favorite little Borgling through.. but it will have a sweet ending. Promise. :)**

 **Thanks so much to Starshine and Scifiromance for letting me tell them a story and being my awesome sounding boards and betas... and note takers. I owe you- you know who you are. XOXO!**

 **Make sure you go read Scifiromance's newly completed story, 'Just Desserts'! It's an ADORABLE C/7 and I just can't get enough of it! .!**

 **~LM**

 **Obligatory Legalities: Don't own them, never will. Damnit...**

 **XXX**

 _January 19, 2377_

 **XXX**

She had just finished uploading the last of her algorithms when a soft sniffling noise caught her attention. For a second, she glanced up at the main air vents above the closed bay doors, but they made no noise. The console in front of her with silent save for the soft confirmational beeps as her input was accepted and sent to Astrometrics to be worked on once her shift began. When the sound came again, her attention was pulled to the line of alcoves.

Mezoti had begged Azan the night before to switch alcoves so that she could regenerate beside Seven and not at the far end beside Icheb. Azan hadn't been keen on the idea- and she didn't blame him. Apparently, they all would have some trouble with changes- the rigidity of the Borg. It had taken Seven's intervening to prevent a tantrum on one side and another anxiety attack on the other. Rebi, ever the mediator, had finally convinced his twin to switch with himself, and then he gave his spot to his younger sister. Win-win for all involved. Crisis averted. Now, standing in the second place in line, still under the influence of her alcove, Mezoti face was set in a deep frown. At her sides, her fists clenched and unclenched, gathering up the material of her dress and wrinkling it.

With a frown, the tall blonde quickly crossed to the children's' alcoves, and stepped up onto the dais in front of her youngest charge. Mezoti continued to frown as her eyes moved back and forth beneath their delicate lids. Seven wondered for a moment if the child was having a nightmare. She, herself, never dreamed- at least not to a point where she could remember it. Did the children? As Mezoti let out another soft sniffling noise, Seven reached out and put her hands on the girl's shoulders.

After a few seconds, pale blue eyes blinked open. Mezoti drew in her next breath in a startled gasp, eyes gone wild before focusing on her guardian before her. "Seven!" she let out in a pitiful mewl, lunging forward into the blonde's arms as she totally disengaged from the alcove.

"Are you.. okay, Mezoti?" Seven asked, one arm sliding around the girl's shoulders to pull her in. The other hand gently turned her charge's face up to meet her eyes. "Did you have a nightmare?"

The little girl continued to frown. "I don't know..." she whimpered, lowering her head to rest it against Seven's chest. "I can't remember.."

Seven nodded once, then gently disentangled herself from Mezoti. "You still have an hour of regeneration left. You should regenerate."

Mezoti immediately looked stricken. "No! Please, Seven, can I stay with you?" She lurched forward again, her hands finding and bunching into the biosuit fabric on either side of Seven's ribs. "I'll be quiet- I promise! Please let me stay with you, Seven- please?"

"You must regenerate, Mezoti."

"But I don't feel good.."

"Do we need to go see the Doctor?" Seven's brow creased in concern, bringing her hands up to cup Mezoti's face, meeting her eyes. "Are you ill?"

"I don't want to go to the Doctor." Mezoti shook her head. "I just want to stay with you. Please, Seven?"

The blonde pursed her lips before letting out a soft sigh. "Very well." Her youngest charge gave her a little, watery smile, cuddling in close for a few moments before releasing Seven's waist and taking her hand. "It is six-twenty. I usually utilize this time before you emerge from your alcoves to perform my grooming regimen. You may clean up as well."

"Yes, Seven." Mezoti nodded, holding Seven's hand and following her out the door of their cargo bay.

Nearly across the hall from their cargo bay were Deck Eight's main restrooms. Since their cargo bay was technically not quarters, and therefore had no restrooms of its own, Seven- and then the Borglings after her- had taken the closest ones over as their own. They were simple rooms, without any real decor- large enough for two toilet stalls and a large stall at the end with a combination sonic/water shower, along with two sinks and a long mirror over their counter, and one standard replicator/refresher built into the long wall. The only real additions to separate these bathrooms from the public restrooms at the far end of the deck was the pile of pink and purple fluffy towels and washcloths instead of the standard white, and a small toothbrush holder on the counter that held a pink and a red toothbrush. Beside the ladies' room, the boys' bathroom was completely mirrored, with blue and green towels, and three blue toothbrushes on their counter.

Seven dropped Mezoti's hand inside the rest room, gently ushering her to the shower stall. "Go ahead." she said, grabbing a pink towel and placing it in Mezoti's hand.

While Mezoti used the shower, Seven put her biosuit through the refresher and redressed. When the eight year old came out of the shower stall wrapped in her pink towel, Seven helped her dry her hair and pick out a clean blue long-sleeved dress and a pair of black leggings to go beneath it. While Mezoti got dressed, Seven took her hair down and brushed it through, then twisted it back up into its typical style. Mezoti's hair was another matter- curly when damp, and tangled from washing. By the time she and Mezoti had it brushed through and braided back the way she liked it, the boys were shuffling into the hallway to begin their own grooming routines.

"Seven?" Rebi knocked on the girls' bathroom door instead of pushing the intercom. As thin as they were, it was easy to hear through them. "Are you in there?"

"Yes." Seven called back, stepping out of the room with Mezoti at her heels. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Seven." said the twins as they slipped into their bathroom. Icheb nodded her way before following them.

Before long, the Borglings and their guardian were ready for the day, and on their way to the messhall for breakfast.

 **XXX**

"Children, make sure you tell Mister Neelix thank you." Seven gently prodded as the children brought their empty breakfast trays to the bus table. She set her own plate neatly with theirs before ushering them past the friendly Talaxian. After a chorus of thank you's and compliments on the newest recipe for cinnamon rolls, the Borglings and Seven headed back to Deck Eight. This morning would be comparative sociology followed by advanced warp theory while Seven completed the first half of her shift in Astrometrics. After lunch, they had an hour on the holodeck with the Doctor for a biology lesson before Seven was giving them a free period to choose their own activities.

All of their plans for the day ground to a halt as the Chief Engineer's voice came across Seven's com badge. ***** _"B'Elanna Torres to Seven of Nine."_ *****

Seven paused her step, leading the children to Astrometrics to begin their lessons. She clicked her badge. "Go ahead, Lieutenant."

 ***** _"Hey, I need you in Engineering today. There's something clinking around in the warp core injector manifold. I need another pair of eyes."_ *****

Icheb scowled. "If the manifolds are clinking, then a warp core breach may be imminent."

"Seven?" the twins both turned suddenly concerned faces up to her. Mezoti's hand tightened in her own.

B'Elanna, having heard the boy's comment, chuckled across the com. ***** _"Relax, Icheb- it's just a turn of phrase."_ ***** After a short pause, she continued. ***** _"I could use your help, Seven."_ *****

The blonde held in her sigh, refusing to set her jaw or do anything else to let the children know she was unhappy with the request. Since Mezoti's anxiety attack the day before, she was beginning to feel a touch of anxiety herself at the thought of leaving them. What if the others decided to follow their sister's example? What would she do with four children all in the midst of a panic attack? But duty called, and if B'Elanna was requesting her assistance, then she must honestly need her. Never in a million years would the half-Klingon call on her for company alone. With a quick duck of her head, the blonde answered. "I will be there imminently. Lieutenant. I must take the children to Neelix first."

 ***** _"Sounds good to me. See you in a minute, then. Torres, out."_ *****

"Come along, children." Seven said, turning them around and heading back towards the turbolift. "We will begin our lessons once I am through."

"I don't want to stay with Neelix.." Mezoti muttered as they stepped out of the turbolift.

"Be that as it may, I cannot take you to engineering with me." said Seven simply, walking the children into the now-empty messhall.

Inside, Neelix was just finishing wiping the last of the tables down with a damp cloth. He looked up at them with a grin when they entered, tossing the cloth up onto his shoulder and wiping his hands dry on the front of his apron. "Decide you wanted seconds? I put the last of the cinnamon rolls away, but a quick zap in the oven will rewarm them back to cinnamony perfection. If you'll just give me a moment to-"

"Mister Neelix, my presence is required in engineering." Seven gently cut him off. "I need you to supervise the children in my absence."

The Talaxian smiled, his whiskers bristling. "Oh, that's perfect. Naomi will be here any moment. Sam has to work on the bridge this morning. We can all have a good time together, can't we." He held his arms out, his smile widening as the twins immediately came over to him, Icheb a few steps behind.

Mezoti stayed by Seven, turning her face up to meet Seven's eyes. "I want to stay with you."

Seven gave her little hand a reassuring squeeze. "I know you do." she said, voice softened as the eight-year old leaned into her side. "But I cannot take you with me."

"Is everything alright, Mezoti?" Neelix asked, walking over to them. He had enough experience with Naomi to see the beginnings of separation anxiety and know how to help ease it. He held his hand out, taking Mezoti's from Seven and pulled a big grin. "Naomi will be here in a few minutes. I've been trying to teach her how to make chocolate chip cookies but making enough cookies for the whole crew is a job that is a bit much for only two bakers!" He leaned down so that he was eye level with the Norcadian. "But I have an inkling that with the five of you helping, we can make enough cookies for everyone. What do ya say? Will you help us?"

"I want to count the chocolate chips!" Azan said behind them, pleased.

"You just want to sneak them when Mister Neelix isn't watching." commented Icheb.

Neelix turned back to them with a chuckle. "Now, if everyone got in trouble for stealing a few chocolate chips out of the bowl now and then, we'd all be in the brig."

"Can.. can I stir?" Mezoti asked thoughtfully, her free hand coming to tap her fingers on her chin. "I think with my reinforced biradial clamps, I would be sufficiently strong enough to stir the amount of batter it would potentially take to make several dozen cookies."

Neelix chuckled as he nodded. "You can be my official stir-er. And, of course, I will need several good taste-testers." said Neelix.

"We agree." said the twins in unison, rubbing their hands together in anticipation.

Neelix stood back to his full height, puffing out his chest. "The crew will be so pleased! Now, we must get you all nice, clean aprons-"

"Can I have a chef hat like yours, Mister Neelix?" asked Azan.

"Why, of course you can, Rebi!" answered the Talaxian.

"I'm not Rebi, I'm Azan." scowled the twin.

"Oh, well, of course you are. Now, come along, children.."

Seven smiled, herself, nodding her goodbye to Neelix as he ushered the four children to the galley, and then quietly slipped from the room.

 **XXX**

 ***** _"Neelix to Seven of Nine!"_ *****

Seven looked up from the engineering console before clicking her name badge. "Yes, Mister Neelix?"

 ***** _"Now, not to panic, because physically she is just fine-"_ *****

The blonde could hear Mezoti's wailing in the background. Her eyes widened in sudden anxiety before she turned to leave engineering. "I will be there imminently, Mister Neelix!" She made it halfway to the door before she was stopped.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going, Seven?!" B'Elanna called from the far console. "We're in the middle of the diagnostic!" The feisty half-Klingon put her hands on her hips, blowing a fallen bit of hair out of her face with a quick, irritated breath. "Who said you could leave?"

Seven had whirled back around at the engineer's voice. "I apologize, Lieutenant-" Seven began, feeling her face begin to flush. Of course- the diagnostic! She was torn between staying and leaving. This particular diagnostic required two people at two stations watching the data in tandem to look for inconsistencies. If she left now, they would lose three hours of work. At the same time, Mezoti obviously needed her or else Neelix would not have contacted her. "I-.."

B'Elanna scowled curiously, dropping her hands from her hip to pause the diagnostic on her console. "Seven?"

 ***** _"There's no blood or anything,"_ ***** continued Neelix through the com. ***** _"But she just started having a fit- and I can't calm her down. Icheb said she needed you to calm her down. Honestly, I've tried everything, but-"_ *****

Seven kept the scowl off her own face, taking a deep breath. "One moment, Neelix." she said before turning her full attention to the half-Klingon engineer. "Lieutenant, there has been an incident with the children, and my presence is required." Her eyes flit to the upper workstations and the engineers milling there. "Would it be possible for Ensign Vorik to take my place while I tend to them?"

B'Elanna grimaced for a handful of seconds before nodding once. "Yeah." she spat. She turned to where she could see up to the top level around the warp core before bellowing out a loud, " _VORIK! GET DOWN HERE!_ "

The blonde ex-drone let out a little sigh of relief before turning on her heel and slipping out of the double doors. In the hallway, she quickened her step- not quite sprinting, but not just walking, either- slipping neatly into the turbolift at the end of the hallway. "Deck two." When the doors reopened again, the young woman didn't bother walking. Instead, she jogged down to the double doors into the mess hall, the sound of Mezoti's wails becoming louder as she approached.

" _No!_ " Mezoti cried, her voice barely muffled by the doorway, and punctuated with raspy coughs. "I need.. Seven! I.. need her!"

"Mezoti, she's on her way." Neelix's voice was hardly calm. A little separation anxiety was one thing, but this was a whole other can of worms. "Now everything is going to be alright-"

Seven was through the sliding doors before they were all the way open, her eyes scanning the empty mess hall for the children. They were a huddled group crowded around the long couch, three little faces pensive, the fourth wet with tears. Rebi sat with his arm around Mezoti's shoulders as she sobbed. Azan hovered behind them. Icheb stood silent and sentinel in front of the group, unsure what to do for his sibling. Naomi clutched Neelix's arm, watching the borglings with a concerned frown. "What happened?" Seven asked, crossing to the couch.

Mezoti's head whipped around as Seven spoke, "Seven!" The little girl left Rebi's comforting side to run to Seven. The two met in the middle, Seven bracing herself to keep from being knocked over. When Mezoti wrapped her arms around Seven's ribs, the blonde put her own around the girl's shoulders. "Seven, please don't go!"

"I'm right here." returned Seven, looking concernedly down at the little brown head against her chest. "Are you damaged?"

"No, I.. it won't stop!" Mezoti whimpered.

"What won't stop?" asked Seven.

"..I don't.."

Seven reached down and lifted the eight year old up, letting Mezoti's legs wrap around her waist before walking the last three steps to the couch where the others were. There, she turned and took a seat in the middle, Mezoti wriggling around to sit across her lap. The twins immediately occupied the space to her left. Rebi curled into her side and Azan close behind him. Icheb took a seat on the ottoman, allowing Naomi to slip by him and take up the free space on Seven's right. "Elaborate." Seven said gently, pulling Mezoti back from her enough to see the child's face. "You don't what?"

Mezoti's eyes flickered to Naomi and then across to the twins before she shaking her head. "Please, Seven.." she whimpered.

"She thinks you're not coming back." Rebi said quietly.

"Stop it, Rebi." Mezoti snuffled with another cough. "No fair mind reading.."

"We are not to use our neural interfaces on one another." Seven chastised gently, raising an eyebrow at the twins as a wave of guilt flushed over her. Perhaps she should have tried to.. but engineering was just too dangerous to have taken the children.

Rebi frowned. "I was trying to help." he defended.

Azan nodded. "He just tried to ascertain what was the matter."

"Anyone listening to her would know she thinks you aren't coming back." commented Icheb, crossing his arms over his knees as he watched them. "She asked when you were coming back forty-three times today, and asked the computer for your location twelve."

Seven's flash of guilt deepened.

Mezoti hiccupped. "You were gone again!" The floodgates reopened, fat teardrops rolling down the little girl's face.

"I was helping Lieutenant Torres with a diagnostic, _sötnos_. Sometimes, I will have to be away from you. I have duties to perform on this ship." Seven tried to sound soothing, but the look of sheer panic that came over Mezoti's face told her she had not succeeded.

The eight-year old shook her head, lunging forward and wrapping her arms tight behind Seven's neck, her voice hardly muted against the fabric over the blonde's shoulder as she shrilly exclaimed, "No! No- you _can't_! You _can't_ leave me, Seven! Don't go away, please, Seven! You can't- you can't- you-" She paused only to gulp and then gag.

Neelix's eyes grew large at the sound. That was a sound he unfortunately had learned well early on in his cooking career on this ship. Humans were so finicky. "Oh!" Quickly, he grabbed up the big empty container from the table behind him, flipping off the silver lid with the word ' _FLOUR_ ' embossed onto it, and held it out in front of Seven. "You'd better spin her around!"

At the look on the Talaxian's face, Seven didn't hesitate. Mezoti gagged once more as she was quickly spun around, and once in front of the container offered to her before emptying her stomach into it. The other children flooded away from the couch like a dam had burst- Naomi hiding behind the galley's bar and the twins backing up under the far window with wide eyes. Azan hid his face against his brother's shoulder, his hands clamped over his ears. Icheb, with his lip curled, calmly stood and backed away from the table. Seven was thankful for Neelix, who simply held the canister under Mezoti's chin as if he was completely unbothered by what was happening. Seven herself could only hold the little girl still, thinking quickly to grab her chestnut hair back to keep it from being vomited on.

"Naomi, go and fetch me a clean barmop for Mezoti, would you?" Neelix said calmly. Naomi, who appeared a little green around the gills herself, nodded, sliding deeper into the galley. By the time she brought back a clean, white dishtowel, Mezoti was finished being sick, sitting in Seven's lap sobbing. "Thank you, Naomi." Neelix said, taking the container and placing it on a table a few feet away from the rest of them to be gotten rid of later.

"Here you go, Mezoti." Naomi said softly, holding the rag out to her friend. Seven intercepted it, turning Mezoti enough to see her face and gently wipe it clean.

"Why don't you take her to the restroom and get her cleaned up, Seven?" Neelix said kindly. "The boys can stay here with Naomi while I.." He gestured to the container. "I'll get rid of this."

There weren't words to express herself with at the moment, as stunned as Seven was. So she only haltingly nodded, lifting Mezoti up into her arms as she stood from the couch, and carrying her quickly out of the messhall and into the ladies' room next door. She debated in her head as she settled the child on the counter by the sinks whether or not to take her to sickbay. The bout of vomiting had obviously come from Mezoti being so worked up, and not on some random virus strong enough to take hold in a nanoprobe-rich bloodstream. Mezoti's nanoprobes would have neutralized any contaminant in seconds- long before it would be able to nauseate her. She had never shown symptoms of having gastric issues like Azan occasionally struggled with, so there was nothing for the Doctor to adjust.. and their last visit hadn't exactly gone well..

"I'm sorry.." Mezoti whimpered, her eyes closed as she sat listlessly on the counter, letting Seven run a clean wet washcloth over her face. The cold sensation of the water evaporating off of her overheated skin felt good while her stomach settled itself.

"You don't need to be sorry." Seven said softly, noting the slight upturn of Mezoti's lips at the endearment. When she had Mezoti's face sufficiently spotless, she lifted her up and carried her on her hip back to the messhall, thankful for the extra strength of her Borg-enhanced muscles and bones.

Once she walked through the messhall doors, the children crowded back around her. She carefully slid Mezoti down to stand on her own two feet. "Children, thank Neelix for watching after you." she said to the boys.

Neelix, back from his trash run, waved her off. "Don't worry about it. I enjoy having them around." he said.

"All the same.." Seven prompted.

"Thank you, Mister Neelix." the twins said in unison.

"Thank you." Icheb nodded his head.

"..thank you.." Mezoti mumbled, holding tight to Seven's hand, eyes downcast.

"You're welcome, children." returned the whiskered Talaxian. "I hope you feel better, Mezoti."

The young girl nodded, turning back to Seven, hiding her face against the woman's chest. "Seven.."

"Yes, _sötnos_?"

"Can we go? Please?" whimpered the girl.

Rebi, beside them, frowned. "Why have you designated Mezoti as _sötnos_?"

Azan mirrored the expression. " _Sötnos_.. Swedish- a Terran language." he said, pulling the information from his cortical node. "It means sweet nose.. an endearment?"

"You do not designate us as _sötnos_." said Rebi, his voice soft and uncertain. "Are we not wanted?"

It was Seven's turn to frown. "Of course you are wanted." She lifted her arm and wrapped it around Rebi's shoulders, pulling him close to her side the way she did Mezoti.

"Then is Mezoti wanted more?" asked Azan. He scowled. "It's because she is a girl, isn't it?"

"But girls are not better than boys." said Rebi.

"But girls can do anything boys can do." added Naomi from beside Neelix.

"That does not make them superior." Azan's scowl deepened, his dark eyes going from Mezoti to Naomi.

"But Seven is a girl." added Rebi. "And she is-"

"Children!" Seven cut in, reaching her arm out from Rebi's shoulders to also pull his twin in close to her. "This is not a hierarchy."

"It is a matriarchy." Azan stood with his arms crossed, moving back from Seven and his twin. He looked to his older brother for support with a frown. "We outnumber them, but they rule us!"

"Get used to that, Rebi." Neelix said with a little chuckle.

"I'm _Azan_!" said the slighted twin, his frown deepening.

" _I'm_ Rebi." Rebi said indignantly, continuing to lean into Seven's side.

"Of course you are." Neelix said a little absently, his attention back on Seven and Mezoti.

"This is not a matriarchy, either, Azan." Seven held back the half-amused smirk.

"Than why does she get to be-"

Seven cut them off with a tone that brooked no argument. "You are all _mina sötnosar_." She waited for the twins to smile before directing them towards the door. "Now, come along, children. We have lessons to read today."

 **XXX**

Lunch had been a short affair- replicated sandwiches for the twins and Icheb to eat in Astrometrics, and nothing for Mezoti or Seven. The Doctor's biology class was canceled for the day, rescheduled for the next, and at least the twins seemed all the more happy for it. Seven had still offered the children a free period to choose their own activity, but the twins seemed keen to stay nearer to her than not. Icheb preferred to study than babysit the twins on the holodeck anyway, and Mezoti..

She tried very hard not to feel annoyed. Every time her patience began to wear thin and she would begin to let out a great, heaving, irritated sigh, she would glance down at the little girl clutched to her like a lifeline. The pitiful sight bolstered her reserve even as it made her feel guilty. Mezoti held her lessons for the day downloaded on a PADD in her hand, but it did her little good hanging limply at her side. She wouldn't have been able to see the text anyway with her eyes closed and her face half-hidden against the blue biosuit over Seven's ribs. What little of her face visible was pallid, as though all the blood had been drained out of her.

For a second, Seven halted her work, lifting her hand and cupping the side of the girl's face with the warm metal and flesh of her palm. There was no fever- wasn't this how she had observed Samantha Wildman checking Naomi Wildman for fever? At the gesture, one pale blue eye fluttered open long enough to glance up and circle Seven's face before sliding closed again.

Beside them, Meghan Delaney clucked her tongue in sympathy. When Seven's eyes scrolled over to her subordinate, the brunette gave her a sympathetic smile without comment. Her eyes dropped down to Mezoti one more time before she turned her attention back to the console in front of her.

"Seven?"

"Yes, Azan?" Seven turned her head to the other three children sitting in a line at the side consoles studying the same lessons Mezoti was ignoring.

The bolder twin had his eyes on their younger sister, drawing the attention of his brothers. "Is Mezoti damaged?"

The girl in question sluggishly came to life at the suggestion, lifting her head enough to see the others and scowl. "I am _not_ damaged."

Azan raised the eyebrow that would have matched his guardian's in a few years. "Then why are you standing like that?"

"Like what?" Demanded Mezoti indignantly.

"Like you're damaged." Azan turned his eyes up to meet Seven's. "What is wrong with her?"

Though Azan's voice hadn't held a drop of accusation, Mezoti dropped the PADD with her lessons to the floor with a clatter to use both hands to cling around Seven's waist. "I'm not damaged!" She looked up at her guardian with wide, wet, imploring eyes. "Tell him I'm not!"

"Azan, you will cease this line of questioning." Seven said, tone authoritative but not unkind.

"..Is she contagious?" Asked Rebi in a small voice. "Will we show similar symptoms?"

"Rebi, Mezoti is not contagious." Seven fought rolling her eyes, running her hand down Mezoti's back, drawing the tense child in closer to her.

Icheb didn't hold back the roll of his eyes. "She shows no symptoms that correlate to any communicable diseases I have ever heard of. Your worry is misplaced." He leaned in closer to the twins, a smirk on his face. "You're far more likely to catch something from last night's Breeolin casserole- Ensign Kim said that the whole of deck fifteen presented to the Doctor with symptoms akin to the Terrilian flu." Both twins whipped around towards Seven with wide eyes, only deepening the older boy's amusement.

Seven cut them off at the chase. "There has never been a case of deck-wide illness on Voyager. Icheb, do not tease the boys!"

"I heard it was deck fourteen and the Arkadiann flu." Meghan said innocently.

"Seven!" Rebi half-whined, hopping down from his stool and crossing to Seven's unoccupied side.

"Crewman Delaney!" Seven chastised with a light scowl.

The young woman pursed her lips, unsuccessfully hiding her mirth as Icheb laughed and Seven gave her a disapproving side-eye. She couldn't hold in her chuckle. "Sorry- I couldn't resist! They sounded just like that Billy Telfner that Tal hangs around with.."

Mezoti didn't give an inch to Rebi, jealously continuing to occupy Seven's front even as the slightly older boy squirmed his way under their guardian's free arm. The little boy ignored her for the most part, taking Seven's hand and pulling it around his shoulders. Seven pulled him in as she was Mezoti. "Icheb and Crewman Delaney are joking." Seven said to the twins. Azan, still a little unsure, padded over to the blonde as well, not to be left out. "You will not become sick from anything Neelix prepares. He runs all of his recipes through the computer system to make sure they are all compatible with humanoid digestive systems."

Meghan frowned. She definitely was feeling a little bit guilty for worrying the children. Sometimes she forgot how seriously the children took things, and there was obviously something going on with the littlest today. "No one was sick from Neelix's food last night. There is no reason to worry about it."

"Crewman William Telfer is a hypochondriac. If he didn't get sick from eating Neelix's dinners for this long, no one will." said Seven, meeting Azan and Rebi's eyes in turn. "And even should there be some contaminant, you have a ninety-eight point four percent chance of if being neutralized by your nanoprobes before it had the chance to infect you." When the twins nodded their acceptance, she gently ushered them back towards their stools and their lessons. She tried to redirect Mezoti as well, but the little girl shook her head stubbornly, continuing to hold tight to her guardian's waist, uninterested in her lessons.

Behind them, the doorway swished open, allowing Chakotay to breeze into the room. "Good afternoon." he greeted, nodding towards the children and walking up towards the middle console. As he noticed Mezoti's position against Seven, he paused his step. At his slightly confused frown, Seven rose a challenging eyebrow, not moving an inch to push the child away. Letting it go, he approached the main console. "Do you have the evening report for me?"

For a second, the room spun. Seven gripped the edge of her console with the hand not settled on Mezoti's back. In all the fuss over the children and Mezoti's episode, all thoughts of the report had fled her enhanced brain. She was lucky she had been able to complete any work at all with what had been happening. She hadn't even realized that it was nearly four in the afternoon. Meghan would be trading placed with her twin, Jenny Delaney, soon. "The report." She could feel her cheeks begin to warm with a blush. "I- I apologize Commander, but I do not have the report ready yet."

Chakotay fought to hide the surprise at her admission. Barring being stuck in sickbay or on an away mission, Seven had never not had her report ready for him. His asking for it the way he had was merely a habitual pleasantry- a way to greet the typically quiet ex-drone and give her a chance to add her comments if necessary or to give him a nod goodbye if not. "Oh." He glanced down at the little girl watching him from her spot glued to the blonde's side, pushing a friendly smile on his face for her before turning his attention back up to Seven. "Well, with everything.. don't worry about it. I don't need it for another few hours.." He hoped that didn't sound as awkward as it felt. "And with the children needing so much-"

"Um, Seven?" Meghan broke in gently, pulling the blonde's attention back to her as she gently pushed a PADD into her hands. "Here's the evening report." At Seven's confused scowl, she smiled. "Um, I went ahead and pulled it together." She glanced pointedly down to Mezoti's dark head. "You were busy."

Seven took the PADD with a grateful nod. "Thank you, Crewman Delaney." she said sincerely. She didn't bother to skim the information- for once letting someone else have a little control in Astrometrics while she tried to pull together control of what was going on with the children. When she handed the PADD directly to Chakotay, she could see the brief surprise on Meghan's face- of course she expected to be second-guessed because she worked for a micromanager and didn't she know it?

"Thanks." Chakotay said, accepting the PADD and adding it to the other four in his hand. "Is it no better today?"

The blonde set her jaw, giving her head the smallest of shakes. "No." she answered. "She was ill today."

At the mention, the twins perked up. "Neelix let us make cookies for the crew today," said Azan. "And then Mezoti tossed hers!" He couldn't see his sister flinch from across the lab, only his guardian giving him a warning look. More uncertainly, he asked, "Is that the correct colloquialism, Commander?"

Chakotay pursed his lips. "Well, uh, yes, it is, Azan." he answered truthfully. "But it isn't quite a polite one. Not to say in front of the person who was sick." He turned his eyes back to Seven. "Did you take her to the Doc?"

"No, I did not." Seven answered. "But we see him tomorrow for our weekly checkups. I will address it with him then."

"Oh. Okay. Good." he answered. "Anyway, thank you, Crewman Delaney, for the report. I'll give you some extra wiggle room tomorrow-"

"That won't be necessary." Seven broke in, embarrassed. She appreciated his wanting to go easy on them, but at the same time it frustrated her. "I had no excuse to not have it finished. I will not forget again."

"De nada." Chakotay waved her off. "Take care of Zotti and the boys." He reached out and tousled Mezoti's hair, drawing a little smile across her face. "I'll see you kids tomorrow, eh? It's our lesson day."

Rebi smiled, swiveling around in his seat and crossing the room to the main console. "Oh, yes! We are, aren't we, Seven?"

Seven nodded to him. "Yes, Rebi."

"We're gonna learn about the history of a little planet called Delphine VII tomorrow. Without the warring colonies there, we would never have found the dilithium buried under the crust there." He squinted his eyes theatrically, patting the boy's head. "The identity of the people that hid all that dilithium there is still a mystery to this day!"

"Someday," Mezoti said softly, "They may return to that planet and let them know."

"Is the dilithium gone?" asked Azan, intrigued.

Chakotay nodded. "Oh, long gone!"

"I bet they will be mad!" said the bolder twin, rushing from his seat to his favorite professor. "I'd be mad if someone came and took all my dilithium!"

"Hey, the last squirrel loses the acorn." said Chakotay, his voice playfully sage.

"What does that mean?" asked Rebi.

"What's a squirrel?" asked Azan.

"What's an acorn?" asked Mezoti.

Chakotay smiled at her. "Well, you'll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out, won't you?"

The little girl frowned. "Can Seven come with us?"

"We can discuss that later, Mezoti." Seven answered quickly, not wanting to risk the little girl getting wound up again.

The Commander bent down a head so that he was level with the little girl. "Aw, come on, Zotti- my classes aren't that boring are they?"

"Well, no.. I just.." She leaned her head back down on Seven's chest, cuddling in.

"Just want to stick with Seven for a bit?" Chakotay poked her in the side. "Watch out you don't start growing to her side like a little leech. Remember when we studied leeches a few weeks ago?"

Mezoti snorted, lifting her head back up to look him in the eye. "Leeches can let go and be independent of their host, Commander."

The older man laughed. "I'm glad you paid attention. So it's not so bad to be a leech?"

"Better a leech than a fungus."

"Well, perhaps we will review the merits of both tomorrow, okay?"

Immediately, the little girl was anxious again. "Okay.. but can Seven come?"

Chakotay got his second big surprise of the day when Seven quickly blurted out a yes. Apparently, Seven had surprised herself- eyes wide and body tense for a heartbeat or two before she quickly hid it, feigning her typical indifference while Mezoti grinned widely at her side.

Seven held in the sigh of frustration with a pang of guilt. If she hadn't left Mezoti with Neelix earlier, the girl likely would not have had an anxiety attack today severe enough to make her sick to her stomach. There definitely didn't need to be a repeat of that any time soon, and right now, she had no idea how else to prevent it but to give the little girl what she thought she needed. Tomorrow, she would consult with the Doctor. Maybe he had some idea of what to do. As they bid farewell to the Commander, she wondered to herself just what had happened to trigger this.

"I want to look up the planet Chakotay is to discuss with us tomorrow." Mezoti said softly as the doors swished closed behind the Commander. She looked to Rebi. "Do you want to assist me?"

"Me, too." said Azan with an excited grin. "I will assist."

Rebi nodded with a little smile. "Yes. We can use my station."

"Okay." agreed Mezoti, following the twins to their stools, leaving a bewildered Seven behind.

 **XXX**

 **Love it? Hate it? Tell me in a review!**

 **~LM**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: Hello and welcome to chapter 3! Thanks so much to all my reviewers! It makes my day to read them! Thanks again to Scifiromance and Starshine for letting me tell them a story. Love you guys!**

 **I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)**

 **~LM**

 **If you haven't, make sure you read 'The Gift' by Scifiromance! She just added chapter 114, and it is intense!**

 **Obligatory Legalities: Don't own them. You know that. Why do I keep putting this here?**

 **XXX**

 _January 20, 2377_

 **XXX**

"Come along, children." Seven said lightly, leading her charges out of the turbolift and towards the messhall. Mezoti's hand was cemented in hers, and had been since the young girl had emerged from her alcove an hour before. Her other hand was wrapped around Rebi's. Icheb and Azan walked swiftly behind them, pulling up the rear on their march towards breakfast.

"Seven..?" Rebi said softly, turning his head up to look at her face.

"Yes, Rebi?"

"My biradial clamp.." he murmured, pulling his hand from hers to rub his other shoulder. "It hurts today."

Seven paused her steps, turning to him. She gently shook her hand free of Mezoti's to carefully turn Rebi so that she could feel along his shoulder. "Do you want to go to sickbay before breakfast?" she asked him, carefully palpating his artificial joint.

"I'm hungry, though." he half-whined, wincing when she lifted his arm to check his mobility.

The blonde nearly rolled her eyes at his stubbornness. "Can you make it through breakfast with your arm in pain?" She nearly winced with him as she put his arm back to his side. Her own shoulder had been aching since carrying Mezoti the day before. If they hadn't already been scheduled to see the Doctor this morning, she would have taken them all anyway.

"I'll carry your tray." offered Azan, watching his brother anxiously.

"That is very thoughtful of you, Azan." praised Seven, giving the boys one of her little smiles. She cupped Rebi's chin with her hand to make him look at her. "Can you wait or do you want to go to sickbay? It's your decision."

The ten year old twin pursed his lips for a few heartbeats before shaking his head. "I can wait." he decided.

Seven nodded, dropping her hand. "As you wish."

"I do. Neelix might have made more cinnamon rolls!" said the boy, taking his brother's hand with his right, and pulling him on down the hallway. ' _Let's go._ '

' _I'm coming!_ '

As she usually did, Seven winced at the intrusion of little voices behind her eyes. The twins were especially good at communicating between one another with their interlink node. Rarely, the signal was strong enough to include herself and the other children. Beside her, Mezoti laughed, taking up her hand again and pulling her along towards the messhall. "Boys, use your voices!" she called out after them.

' _Sorry, Seven!_ '

"Rebi!"

The twins skidded to a halt outside of the messhall doors, barely missing knocking over a couple of science ensigns, whipping back around to see Seven as she briskly lead Mezoti and Icheb towards them. "Yes, Seven?" Rebi asked innocently, staring up at her with big, brown, doe eyes.

She could feel the irritated expression relax off of her face. "Please use your voices." she repeated, then added for good measure. "And do not run in the corridors!"

Looking properly chastised, both boys bowed their heads in a nod. "Yes, Seven." they spoke in unison as they did most things. Rebi was the first to peek up. "Can we go eat now?"'

"Yes." she answered with a half-amused smirk, ushering them into the messhall and towards the line to the galley. Icheb and the boys hurried to get in line, eagerly grabbing up their trays and silverware. Mezoti stood quietly at Seven's side until she was forced to let go of her hand to hold her own breakfast tray.

"Good morning, Icheb." Neelix said pleasantly, quickly filling the teenager's plate with all manner of breakfast goodies.

"Good morning, Mister Neelix." returned the teen with a nod, stepping back to allow the twins to have their trays filled.

"Good morning, Neelix!" the twins said, holding their trays out in unison.

"Hello, boys!" Neelix made sure to put a little extra jam on their plates before they ducked back to make room for Mezoti. "And good morning, Mezoti. Are you feeling better today?"

"Yes, Mister Neelix." answered the young girl, smiling sweetly when he stuck and extra pancake on her stack. "Thank you, Mister Neelix."

"You're welcome!" All smiles, he finally turned to greet Seven as she held out her tray to him, but his words were cut off by a loud clatter behind her.

"Ow!" Rebi whimpered, his right hand clamped over his left shoulder as he looked down at his dropped tray and the food splattered over his feet. All the eyes in the messhall had turned to him at the sudden noise, the steady mumble of the crew talking over breakfast quieting down to whispers in the span of a few seconds. Eyes struggling to hold back tears looked up into Seven's face. "I'm sorry.. my arm just.."

Seven handed her tray back to Neelix. "It's okay." she assured, bending and picking up his dropped tray. Directing the other children to go sit down, she pulled Rebi aside out of the way of the line still waiting for breakfast. "We should go to sickbay now."

The boy pouted. "But I'm hungry.."

"Is he okay?" Tom asked, bringing his tray up to the bus table. Harry was behind him with his own empty tray, watching them concernedly.

"He's fine." answered Seven, turning to grab some napkins from the counter.

"I dropped my tray." Rebi said softly, his face red.

Harry grabbed a handful of napkins, as well, bending down beside Seven and dabbing at the glob of jelly on the carpet by the boy's feet. "Hey, accidents happen." he said with a smile, throwing the dirty napkin in the recycler. Tom handed him another stack. "I've dropped my tray, too."

"I can beat that." said Tom, taking Rebi's tray from Seven and putting it in the bus bin. "Once, a long time ago, Neelix dumped a tray of spaghetti over my head!"

Rebi broke into a grin. "Mister Neelix did?"

"He sure did." Tom nodded sagely. "He thought I was makin' moves on his girl."

Harry snorted. "Weren't you?"

The helmrat had the good sense to look contrite. "Well, the thing about that is.."

"Thank you for your assistance." Seven said to Harry, wiping the last of the jam from Rebi's shoes.

"No problem, Seven." Harry waved her off, taking the soiled napkins to the recycler for her.

"Kids are messy." Tom shrugged with a playful grin. "You should have seen me at that age."

"I believe that is one of my first observations of them." Seven agreed with a small half-smirk. She gently turned Rebi towards her, lifting the hand he held clutched over his shoulder. "Come along."

"Where?" the little boy asked cautiously, letting Seven feel over his shoulder. "I'm still hungry. I didn't get to eat- it all spilled."

Seven sighed, holding back the roll of her eyes. "Rebi-"

"Please?" begged the child. "Azan got to eat- and he doesn't even like to! My stomach is growling!"

Neelix, finishing up the last person in line, held Seven's tray up. "Did you still want this, Seven?" he asked over the counter.

Rebi's eyes went wide. "Yes!" He looked back at Seven imploringly. "Please?"

"...as you wish." she breathed, letting him go to take her tray back into her hands. She gestured towards the table where the other children were already eating, and followed after him with the tray. He settled into the chair across from his twin, reaching out with his right arm and stealing a piece of buttered toast. Seven settled beside him, sliding her tray in front of him, and turning sideways in her seat towards him. "Let me see your shoulder while you ingest your nutrients."

The little boy didn't bat an eye as she pulled his chair up to her knees and undid the button of his overalls. He was far too busy trying to get the fork in his non-dominant right hand to make the trip from his eggs to his mouth. After the second time the yellow curd fell off from his fork to roll back onto his plate, he sighed in frustration. When Seven pushed her fingers over the tender skin around his irritated biradial clamp, he hissed in pain, twisting away from her.

" _Jag är ledsen._ " she murmured an apology, easing up the pressure as she carefully palpated his shoulder. "Hurry and eat so we can go to sickbay."

"I can't." whined Rebi. "I keep dropping it. Can I use my hands?"

"Like a baby?" Icheb smirked.

"Here." Azan stood from his chair and leaned over the table. He took Rebi's fork and speared a clump of yellow eggs with it before holding it up to his brother's mouth. "Better?" Rebi nodded, chewing his bite behind a smile.

"Can you do it with your other hand?" Mezoti challenged, switching hands with her own fork and carefully bringing a bite of pancakes to her lips. At the last second she almost missed, smearing sticky syrup around the corner of her mouth before hitting her target. "It's hard!" she said around the mouthful.

"Nuh-uh!" Azan, up to the challenge, switched hands before scooping up another bite of eggs and holding them out to his brother with a laugh. "You just have to pay attention, Mezoti- oh." The yellow fluff rolled off the fork and across the table. The three youngest burst into giggles. Icheb snorted. Seven, refastening Rebi's overalls strap, shook her head with a smirk.

"Do try not to make a mess, children." she chided gently. "The nutrients are supposed to go inside your bellies- not on the table."

"I'm not trying to make a mess.." Rebi said with another giggle, using his left hand to pick up a piece of sausage and pop it into his mouth. "But I can't do it wrong-handed."

 **XXX**

Across the messhall, at the table recently vacated by Tom and Harry, B'Elanna looked up at the sound of the Borgling children laughing, raising an eyebrow onto her ridged forehead as she scanned her eyes over to their table. "What in the world are those Borglings up to?" she asked absently.

"Huh?" Sitting across from her, sipping a cup of green tea and reading over a PADD, Chakotay glanced up as she spoke.

"You didn't hear them?" B'Elanna asked, glancing over at him before turning her eyes back towards the Borglings' table. This time she scrunched her nose. "Seven is letting them eat pancakes with their hands.."

"Probably why they were laughing." Chakotay said, leaning forward and putting his cup down to gesture to the screen of his PADD. "Look at this- what if we take the EPS conduits from the dilithium storage unit and-"

B'Elanna ignored him, watching the children across the room. "I'll never understand why the Captain decided to have Seven be the one to watch after those Borglings." she said, setting her fork down on her empty plate. "But really, who else would-" She raised her other eyebrow to meet the first when she saw one of the twins lean into Seven's side, and the blonde ex-drone put her arm around his shoulders.

"Bee, I'm trying to talk to you." Chakotay said impatiently, tapping the PADD.

"I'm listening."

The Commander scowled, turning his eyes over to the table B'Elanna was watching. The children were smiling and laughing- like children should be. So what if they made a little mess? Maybe Seven was serious about letting them be spontaneous like had had advised. Either way, now was not the time to contemplate. "No you're not- you're watching Azan and Mezoti see who can eat their pancakes the fastest."

The half-Klingon turned to him in surprise. "How do you know which twin it is?"

He shrugged. "I don't know- I just do- now would you please listen to me so we can get the deflector dish the juice it needs to find the Captain or do I need to go find Carey?"

"Woah- no need to be cranky, _hermano_." returned B'Elanna, dismissing the Borglings and turning her full attention to her superior. "You can't reroute the power from the dilithium storage tanks- we already have." She gave him a small, sympathetic sigh. "Don't worry- we will find the Captain. We always do."

"Well, we better hurry up about it." returned Chakotay. "I already need a vacation and its only been a week."

 **XXX**

"Ah, my favorite patients!" The Doctor greeted the Borglings as they followed Seven into sickbay. He rounded the main console and lifted his tricorder up from the tray beside it. "And their ever-reluctant guardian. Seven, if I'd have known all it would take to get you to come once a week was-"

"Good morning, Doctor." Seven broke in, effectively cutting him off as she lead the children to the surgical suite. "Children?"

"Good morning, Doctor." they chorused.

"Hello, children." He smiled at them lined up. "Who is first?"

"Rebi, today." Seven answered for them. "His biradial clamp is misaligned and causing him pain."

"Nothing I can't fix." said the Doctor, gesturing for Rebi to hop up on the exam table. "This will only take a minute." As he gently worked out the kinks in the little boy's shoulder, he turned his attention to Azan beside him. "And how about you, Azan? Any tummy troubles?"

"Nope." answered the boy, shaking his head.

"And Icheb?" The Doctor spared him a look. "Any headaches, tenderness?"

The teen shook his head. "Not this week, Doctor."

Finished with Rebi, he shook the boy's hand in his, "All fixed up."

As the Doctor went down the line of children, Mezoti stepped closer to an observing Seven, looking up with worried eyes. "Seven?"

"Yes, Mezoti?"

Mezoti looked back at the Doctor as he put a hypo to Azan's throat. "Is he going to make me unconscious again?"

Seven barely held in her surprise at the question, turning her head sharply down at the little girl. "What? No." She ran her hand over the back and Mezot's head, smoothing down her hair. "He's going to give you your weekly maintenance checkup. That is all."

"..okay."

When the Doctor finished with all the boys, and turned to them, Mezoti stepped halfway behind Seven, leaning her head against the blue biosuit over Seven's arm. Again, she turned her eyes up to her guardian's. "Are you sure?"

"What is the matter, Mezoti?" asked the Doctor. "Have you had any tummy troubles? Clamps and junctions all in alignment?"

"I'm fine. I do not require a maintenance checkup." said Mezoti determinedly, her fingers coming up to circle Seven's wrist. "I have not malfunctioned again. I can skip this one." Another look up at Seven. "Can't I, Seven? Please?"

Seven gently shook off the girl's hands before circling her arm around Mezoti's shoulders. "I am afraid that you cannot, Mezoti." she said gently, her tone empathetic but firm.

"You need your medicine." the Doctor said with a smile. "Come along and let me scan you. I'll give you a lollipop after. Tom Paris says that is a common practice on Earth- a sucker after every Doctor's visit."

"We were good." said Azan behind him. Rebi nodded, continuing, "May we have lollipops?"

The holographic doctor glanced back at them with a nod. "Once Mezoti has had her checkup."

Rebi's eyes widened, turning them to Mezoti's pensive face. "Come on, Zotti!" he urged. "He might have blue ones!"

The thought of a blue lollipop- maybe even a sour green lollipop- was definitely tempting, but Mezoti continued to eye the hypospray in the Doctor's hands as though it was a writhing viper, ready to lash out and bite her. She shook her head, drawing closer to Seven. "No, thank you."

The blonde shook her head, taking her arm back. "Come on, Mezoti. Let the Doctor examine you and be done with it." She turned to the Borgling, placing her hands under Mezoti's arms, and lifted her up. She quickly put one arm beneath the girl's bottom, holding her in place, and carried her to the first biobed.

"No- you first!" Mezoti begged, drawing her knees up to her chest when she was placed on the bed. "Please?"

"Why is Mezoti afraid?" Rebi asked his brother, watching the girl with interest.

"She's a baby." answered Azan with a shrug.

Mezoti turned to glare at them with eyes that had began to water. "I am not!" She looked imploringly up at Seven. "I'm not."

At the raised eyebrow Seven sent Azan's way, both boys quietened. She turned back to Mezoti as the Doctor approached them, his tricorder out to scan. Mezoti watched him warily, but allowed him to begin her examination.

 **XXX**

The Doctor had just finished giving Mezoti her last hypospray when Chakotay walked through sickbay's double doors. His typical smile was more a scowl, the little lines around his eyes creased in worry until he crossed the threshold and attempted to reign it back in. When the twins and Icheb greeted him, he smiled for them, tousling the twins' hair as he walked by. He stopped next to the biobed and the Doctor. "You rang, Doc?"

"Oh, yes, Commander," the Doctor nodded, putting the last of his tools back on the tray beside the surgical bed. "I just need you to sign off on their exams like the other day." He gestured to the main console.

"Have you found the Captain yet?" Icheb asked, watching the Commander walk back to the console.

"Not yet, I'm afraid, Icheb." answered Chakotay, inputting his initials on the Doctor's files. He glanced up at the teenager. "With you and Seven working on mapping the phenomena, I'm sure we will have them found very soon." The teen nodded with a smile, turning back to the PADD in his hands, and Chakotay looked back down to the console. Mezoti's file was last. He looked back up, his eyes finding Seven's across the room. "Have you discussed Mezoti's anxiety with the Doctor yet?"

The blonde shook her head, stepping back to allow Mezoti to slide off the biobed and follow her siblings to the replicator for their suckers. She turned pensive eyes after them before looking back at Chakotay. "No." she answered.

The Doctor set his tray of tools back in its proper place. "Well, it would probably be best not to discuss it in front of them." He gestured to the office. "In my office."

 **XXX**

The Doctor shut the door to his office behind Chakotay and Seven, gesturing for them to sit on the stools in front of his desk. When they were seated, he rounded the desk and took up his chair. The files for the children were already loaded up on his console, so all he had to do was swivel it sideways and click on Mezoti's name. "It's understandable that Mezoti- or any of the children- would develop some kind of anxiety. Most humanoids harbor some sort of anxiety at one time or another whether it is where they are going to find their next meal to where is the next dilithium source and so on and so forth."

"The difference being the severity." Chakotay cut in. "I've spent a lot of time worrying about where we are going to get the next tank of dilithium, but I've never fallen out on the floor screaming or throwing up over it." He snorted, the mental picture of himself- or the Captain- falling out on the floor and flailing about whipping through his mind before he could suppress it.

"Well, yes.." said the Doctor, lacing his fingers together over the desktop. "But those children have been through a heck of a lot worse than just a little worry. They've been traumatized- body and mind- by the Borg."

The words sobered Chakotay, who nodded, clasping his hands together in his lap. "Right."

"Will they all start exhibiting these.. panic attacks?" Seven asked quietly, her eyes on the children sitting on the biobeds enjoying their rainbow lollipops through the glass.

"I really couldn't say." answered the Doctor with a regretful wince. "Trauma hits everyone differently. What manifests in one person is different from what manifests in the next person and the next and so on."

Chakotay nodded. "I haven't seen her in the middle of a panic attack, but they must be as intense as you say they are or you wouldn't have knocked a nine-year old child out, right?"

"Eight." Seven corrected. "Mezoti is eight. During the two attacks she has had, she screamed and cried. Then yesterday, she had another- and she vomited in the middle of it." She wrung her hands once in her lap before forcing them to lay still over the tops of her thighs, hiding her own level of anxiety. "And when I have come to assess the situation, she clings to me.. like she is afraid to let go."

"Didn't you say she was crying about you leaving her?" asked Chakotay, watching her still her hands again as she began to draw them back together in her lap. The blonde nodded once.

"She could be having a bout of separation anxiety." said the Doctor thoughtfully. "It's certainly not unheard of. As I've said before, the children will all likely have some level of regression. This may be hers."

"Regression?" That caught Chakotay's attention. "You mean they will start acting like babies again?"

"No, not necessarily." The EMH shook his head. "We're not talking about having to change diapers, Commander. But things like separation anxiety, irritability, being unable to trust others, acting out.." He sighed, looking at Seven with a touch of pity. "We may have our hands quite full for a while." When the ex-drone gave him a startled look, eyes wide and bright and for a heartbeat or two scared, he was quick to continue. "Or we may not- as I said, we don't know how it will affect the children or if it even will affect all of them! Take Icheb for example: that boy is cool as a cucumber, as Mister Paris would say. The twins, so far, have not exhibited any regressive behaviors. Right now, we can just focus on Mezoti."

"Isn't there some kind of medicine you could give her?" asked Chakotay. "At the Academy there were lots of cadets that needed something to.. take the edge off."

"I can begin to try and formulate something that would maybe help her, but honestly with a bloodstream full of nanoprobes it was hard enough to synthesize a compound strong enough to knock them out or to ease their pain." said the Doctor regretfully. "But if you feel that we-"

Chakotay said up straight, surprised. "Pain? What pain?"

"Doctor." Seven said, her voice a soft warning- or maybe a plea.

The EMH only gave her a slightly pitying look. "Really, Seven, I wish you would have let me say a long time ago-"

"Irrelevant."

"It is not irrelevant." said the Doctor with a scowl, turning back to Chakotay. "It's a traumatic thing to be taken apart bit by bit and then stuck back together. Of course there is pain involved, but I keep them as comfortable as possible with weekly doses of-"

" _DOCTOR_!" Seven, her cheeks beginning to flush, stood from her seat, slapping her hands down on the desktop.

"So.. just the children?" asked Chakotay, eyeing the side of Seven's face as she glared at the EMH.

Seven turned to Chakotay just long enough to spit out a terse, " _Yes_."

Not swayed, the Doctor continued on without so much as a flinch. " _No_." he answered simply, ignoring the surprised scowl Chakotay turned on the blonde beside him. The blonde beside him was giving the Doctor a look that could melt steel. "It's a fact, Seven!" he continued, "Life would be a lot easier on you- and you'd need less of it- if at least some people had some idea of what you go through-"

" _ENOUGH_!" Seven's slapped hands became fists before she swiveled away to pace across the office. "We aren't talking about ME- we were discussing the CHILDREN."

Outside of the glass, Mezoti stood in front of the office's door, looking in with a worried frown. "Seven?" Her mouth moved, but no sound could be heard through the office's dampeners. Seven, fight or flight already beginning to kick in, slid open the office door. Mezoti only had to hold her arms up for Seven to lift her and carry her across sickbay to the biobed the twins and Icheb perched on.

"What's wrong?" Icheb asked, seeing the disturbed look on Seven's face as plain as day before she could hide it, schooling it back into indifference.

"Nothing is wrong." she lied, trying to fake a smile. "Come along, children. We have lessons."

 **XXX**

Chakotay and the Doctor watched Seven practically run the children out of sickbay, the twins and Icheb at her heels and Mezoti held securely on one hip. When the sickbay doors slid shut behind them, the Doctor let out a little tired sigh despite not having to breathe or being capable of feeling tired. The sound drew Chakotay's attention back to him, and the Commander frowned at the EMH. "Why did you never say-?"

The Doctor snorted, leaning back in his chair. "You saw what her reaction to that was, Commander." he murmured. "She doesn't like to admit to any kind of weakness."

The Commander could only nod. It was true for any who spent even a little time with the ex-drone. The Borg arrogance, the fight for perfection... Of course she wouldn't want to admit she fell short, but this was serious. His frown became a worried scowl. Just what did she and the children go through? He had been teaching the children a few lessons here and there since they took them on, and he'd never seen any indication that they were in any pain. He pursed his lips once before asking, "Just what kind of pain are they in?"

"Well, Commander.." The Doctor hesitated. "I am bound by my programming to not breach doctor/patient confidentiality.. but the Captain has access to all of Seven's and the children's medical files unless Seven specifically tells me to withhold anything. In the beginning, right after we.. took custody.. of Seven, it was practical for the Captain to know exactly what was going on, and we have never really changed it-"

"But the Captain is not here." Chakotay cut in. "And I am Captain in her stead."

A brief, fleeting moment of silence passed between the two as the Doctor made up his mind. With another little tired sigh, he nodded. "Very well." he said, lacing his fingers together over his holographic stomach. "Say you get a cut on your hand- it hurts, correct? The nerve endings in your hand send signals to your brain saying 'Ouch!' to draw your attention to it so that you will move out of whatever possible danger caused you injury."

Chakotay rolled his eyes. "Biology 101, Doc."

"Yes, common knowledge, of course." agreed the Doctor. "But say instead of a cut on your hand, your hand was cut off. Now, there would be a lot of pain, of course, but if you're quick, and with the help of a skilled doctor, such as myself, you could be mended up, the cut edges of your skin knit back together, and eventually you would no longer feel any pain from that injury- only bear the scar for the rest of your life. The nerve endings in your wrist are organic and will either die away or somewhat heal. You may not have any feeling around your scar, but you don't feel any pain."

"What does that have to-"

"But in Borg drones, it works a little differently. They have the same nerve endings your or I do- or whatever their particular specie has, anyway." the Doctor continued, "But part of their nervous system is Borg- nanoprobe, wire, circuit, nodes. If I remove an implant, it was attached to their Borg nervous system. Those cybernetic nerve endings don't die or heal. They continuously act like a fresh cut- sending signals to the cybernetic brain that something is damaged and needs repair. How the cybernetic brain interprets that signal is with enough pain to urge a drone to return to their alcove to be repaired."

Chakotay felt his stomach drop. "So every time you remove.."

The holographic doctor nodded, leaning forward over his desk. "Seven and I have managed to turn off the majority of the signals, so it isn't as though they are walking around feeling like they have been diced up, but there is a certain level of damage that I just can't repair. Usually it manifests as aches and pains where the removed implant resided. The children sometimes suffer from headaches, and the same maintenance issues that Seven has- adjustments that need to be made and the like." He sighed. "They receive a weekly infusion of reprogrammed nanoprobes and a cocktail of analgesics to keep them comfortable. Now and then, I correct a malfunction or two here and there when they happen, but usually the once a week check-up is enough."

"Will they ever.. get better?" Chakotay asked, a little horrified on their behalf.

"Seven has required less and less as time goes on, so there's the potential to wean off of it." answered the Doctor. "The Borg are virulent. The only real way to stop the signals completely is to replace the implant. Of course, that is not an option."

Chakotay was quiet for a moment, his tongue feeling particularly swollen in his mouth. "The Captain." he began, swallowing. "She knows all this?"

The Doctor shrugged, raising his eyebrows. "We have never discussed it, but she has the access to the files. The information is there at her fingertips."

 **XXX**

The whole walk from sickbay to the holodeck had Chakotay deep in thought. He had never given much thought to Seven's wellbeing. Hell, it had taken months of her being on board before he could even look at her without getting angry- at her and at the Captain for allowing her to be there. He wasn't alone in that, he knew. For a few short moments, they had shared a mind- he understood on some level the nature of the beast better than anyone else on board- but it hadn't helped him feel any closer to her. At the thought, a brief flash of blonde pigtails and blue eyes came to the front of his mind- a memory that wasn't his of an innocent child contentedly listening to an older woman read her a book in a language he could hear behind his eyes but couldn't begin to understand. Did that little girl ever have any inkling of what she would become? A ballerina, it was not.

"Commander?"

Azan's voice pulled him back to the present. As he looked up, Chakotay realized he was in front of the holodeck without having realized he made the journey. The twins stood in front of him, bright smiles on their faces, drawing a grin out of him as well. "Hello, boys." he greeted, trying to shove the unpleasantness of the last half hour behind him. "Are you ready to do some learning?"

"Yes, sir." Rebi said brightly.

Behind them, Icheb stood reading a PADD, looking up only long enough to greet his teacher before his face was turned back to the screen. Mezoti stood beside Seven, hand held firmly in her own, watching him with a neutral expression that would rival Seven's in indifference. Seven, herself, wouldn't look at him. Instead, she was scrolling through the holodeck program files for the third time. A little niggle of shame came over him at the sight of her. He supposed he would be irritated, too, but-

"Children, the program is loaded." Seven said, her hand coming down from the holodeck controls to hang at her side. When the doors swished open, the twins were the first to run inside, followed more slowly by Icheb.

Mezoti brought up the rear, dropping Seven's hand at the last possible second. She looked back up to her guardian uncertainly. "You are attending with us, are you not?"

"Yes, Mezoti." she answered, watching the little girl smile and dash in.

When Seven moved to step into the holodeck after them, Chakotay stopped her. "Seven."

"Commander." she said quietly, finally turning to look at him.

"Look, I didn't know that-" He paused with a breath. "I'm sorry that it-"

But Seven was in no mood to listen and didn't want his sympathy. She drew her brows together. "You should _not_ have used the Captain's absence in that way." She scowled. "It is an invasion of privacy. Even the Captain does not dig that deep into our medical information."

"I didn't read a single page." Chakotay defended gently. "The Doctor just told me a few things."

She couldn't hold in the irritated harumph. "He should not have."

"Well, I-"

Mezoti stuck her head out of the holodeck, eyeing Seven and the Commander warily. "Are you coming?" she asked quietly, her eyes resting on Seven's. "Please?"

Seven schooled her features before Chakotay could, and put on a pleasant expression for Mezoti as she nodded, following the child into the holodeck, and leaving the Commander in the corridor.

 **XXX**

 **Love it? Hate it? Tell me in a review!**

 **~LM**


	4. Chapter 4

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Welcome to chapter 4! Thanks so much to Scifiromance and Starshine for letting me tell them a story- obsessively... My poor little Mezoti..**

 **Enjoy!**

 **~LM**

 **XXX**

 _January 20, 2377_

 **XXX**

The class room was airy and bright, with tan walls and dark wooden floors. The ceiling was vaulted, with several lamps hanging down to add their light, and large paneled windows on three walls that let in the bright holographic sunlight filtering through the jungle outside. Inside, the walls were lined with cabinets and shelves full of pots of plants and vines, and all sizes of terrariums. Each glass habitat was filled with reptiles, fish, or snakes, with the odd furry mammal tucked in. Birdsong floated in from outside, sang to the staccato beat of several ceiling fans keeping the wind rustling through the classroom.

The children ran to take their seats at the desks in the middle of the room, their clothes overlaid with holographic khaki shorts and shirts with dark brown hiking boots. Chakotay took his place at the big desk against the far wall before the chalkboard, his own clothes holographically changed to breezy cargo khakis and a thin white buttonup. Seven stared down at her feet- specifically at the brown boots covering them- with a raised eyebrow. The holodeck had bestowed her with an outfit to match the children. When was the last time she had spent any time looking at her bare knees?

"Alright, scouts," Chakotay began, lifting a stack of papers from his desk, "Let's begin with the planet-" As his eyes scrolled over to Seven, he jerked to a stop for a heartbeat. He'd never seen her without her biosuit before- save for when she had been decked out in her Borg armor- though she certainly filled out the shorts and shirt just as well. Clearing his throat, he turned his eyes back to the children. "Who remembers the name of the planet?" Because his brain had decided to go blank as the tall ex-drone had stood to attention. _Focus, Chakotay._

Rebi giggled from his seat. "Delphine VII, Professor." he supplied.

Azan snickered. "Don't you remember?"

Chakotay grinned a dimpled grin. "Just testing your memories."

Icheb smirked. "Seeing as we have cortical nodes to store information in.."

The Commander snorted. "Yes, yes. Well, then I'm making sure you were paying enough attention in the first place to store the information." He wagged a playful finger their way. "Listen to your elders now."

"We're the youngest beings on this ship." said Mezoti. "Everyone is our elder."

"We are older than you are." Azan said, turning to see Mezoti behind him. "So that means you have to listen to us."

The little girl scowled darkly. "No, I don't."

The teenager beside her crossed his arms over his desk. "And I am older than you, so turn around so that we can begin our lesson." He ignored the smirking eight year old as the twins whipped back around to the front.

"There's an extra chair over there if you want a seat, Seven." Chakotay gestured to the plastic chair in the back corner beneath a large potted jungle tree. A little glass terrarium was settled in the seat, with something small and furry digging around inside of it. "Just set Spock down somewhere."

"Spock?" Seven raised one eyebrow, crossing to the chair and lifting the habitat up to look inside. Two glassy black eyes looked curiously back up at her while two rounded ears flicked back and forth.

"He's a chinchilla." said Azan. "They are crepuscular rodents, native to South America on Earth."

"..I see." Seven set the little terrarium on an empty space on the nearest shelf before going to take her seat beneath the potted tree. From the back of the room, she watched the four children sit quietly in their seats and listen to Chakotay as he spoke. His voice was more sage storyteller than lecturing professor, using his hands to gesture as he taught, and joking with the children as he went along. The blackboard on the wall behind him was soon filled with vocabulary and dates written in his blockish handwriting with white chalk. The children took notes on white loose-leaf paper tucked in the cubbies under their desks to be transferred onto PADDs before they left for the day. If she wasn't so irritated at him for the invasion of privacy..

 **XXX**

"Alright, kids, pop quiz!" Chakotay said with a clap of his hands. Four little faces turned up to him from their notes as he began to erase the board. "We have twenty minutes left.. What is the chemical composition of.."

A stray strand of hair blown loose from her twist by the strong fans came down and tickled the skin behind Seven's ear. As soon as she tucked it back behind her ear, another fell and tickled the nape of her neck. Scowling in annoyance, she swooped it back into place as well only to have another strand fall.

"That's right, Azan. 2133. Good job!" Chakotay praised the correct answer, scribbling it on the board. "Now, who can tell me what the name of the shuttle.."

Another strand came loose from Seven's twist, blowing around to tickle her neck. She decided to ignore it. She had neither another hairpin nor a brush to re-tame her tresses, and felt that demanding the holodeck turn off Chakotay's ceiling fans would be rude. Who was she to disturb his classroom? And why should she want to interrupt the children's lessons to do so? For now, she could deal with the annoyance. What she couldn't deal with, was the warm pressure that suddenly began beside her neck before quickly slithering down over her shoulder and chest. She barely had time to register the word _snake_ in her mind before she reacted, dodging so hard to the left that she unseated herself with a sharp squeak and a starburst of pain in her biradial clamp.

All eyes turned on her, the children whipping around in surprise at her outburst. Chakotay was the first one to her, reaching his hand down and pulling her up to stand again.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his eyes giving her a once over.

Her cheeks turned to flame as she nodded, brushing herself off. "I.. I didn't realize you had an animal that was not contained." she said, watching with a curled lip as Chakotay lifted the eight foot snake up off of her abandoned chair and settled it back up in its tree.

"Just Rico. Don't worry- he's just a harmless constrictor and holographic besides." answered the Commander, watching the snake head back up into the safety of his branches. He dusted his hands off before turning back to the blonde. "Sorry.. I didn't think to say anything. The kids all know he's there."

She shook her head. "No matter. No ..serious harm done." She ran her right hand over her now-aching left shoulder. "If you will excuse me-"

 ***** _"Tom Paris to Seven of Nine."_ *****

With her sudden annoyance shoved to the back of her mind, Seven answered him, using her right hand to tenderly touch her combadge. Even the slight pressure on the right side of her chest caused a dull throb to ache through her biradial clamp. "Yes, Lieutenant?" she answered.

 ***** _"Hey, Seven, B'Elanna and I were going over your analysis of the cluster, and I wondered if you could meet me in Astrometrics to go over a potential flightplan."_ ***** the pilot answered, his voice its usual chipper tone despite the seriousness of their current objectives. ***** _"Maybe we can reverse backtrack their own flightplan."_ *****

"Yes, Lieutenant." she answered with a bird-like nod even though he could not see her. "I will be there imminently."

The reaction from Mezoti was immediate. At the news that her guardian was not going to continue the last of their lessons, the little girl slid out of her chair and rushed to her. "No, Seven, please don't go!" She latched onto the side of the blonde woman's body, her arms winding around Seven's waist as she ducked under her left arm. She didn't hear the hiss of pain this pulled from Seven's lips, too distracted by the burgeoning panic to be aware of much outside of herself. "Don't leave me here alone!"

"You're not alone, Zotti." Chakotay said, his voice light and playful as he attempted to distract the eight year old. "The boys are here. I'm still here." He poked Mezoti in the side. "You trying to say you don't like my classes?"

The little girl barely paid him any mind, practically climbing Seven's body until the blonde guardian lifted her up onto her right hip. "Please, Seven?" she whimpered, "Take me with you."

"Seven?" the twins watched the scene uneasily, their eyes dark with worry.

"It's alright, boys." Chakotay said to them before turning his attention back to Mezoti. "Hey, Zotti, let's go finish up our lesson and then we can go to Astrometrics with Seven, okay?"

"But I want to stay with Seven.." protested the eight year old.

"I know you do, Zotti, but we have to let Seven go to Astrometrics to help Tom out." The commander pat the girl's back. "It won't take us long if we hurry."

"But.."

"No buts, scout." Chakotay took the little girl out of Seven's arms, settling her on his own hip despite her continuing to lean out towards Seven. He was sure it was only surprise that had allowed him to take the child- their superior strength was a known thing amongst those closest to them. "We will see Seven when we are done." He glanced at Seven, hoping his expression was enough to tell her to go while she could.

"I will see you after your lessons in Astrometrics, children." Seven said, slipping out of the holodeck doors.

"Chakotay.." Mezoti half-whined as he carried her to the front of the classroom. "I can walk on my own.. I'm eight."

The commander chuckled, sitting her down on the edge of his desk. "Oh, that's right. How silly of me." He tousled her hair before turning back to the boys. "Alright, children, where were we?"

 **XXX**

Tom and B'Elanna had only taken a few moments to deal with. They had already had an idea of where they wanted to try looking- all they needed from her was the correct updated mapping. She had simply downloaded it only a PADD and they had went on their merry way, leaving her blissfully alone in Astrometrics for a full five minutes before Jenny returned from her restroom break.

"Finally get away from the kids?" Jenny asked amicably as she resumed her place at the console.

"They are taking their lessons with Commander Chakotay at the moment." returned Seven, reaching up and absently rubbing her sore shoulder. "They will return here once they are finished."

"Shoulder hurting you?" asked Jenny, watching Seven go rigid before dropping her hand.

"I.." Seven shifted her stance from military to at ease. "Yes." she answered. "I am going to visit sickbay for a moment. I shall return."

"Alright, boss."

 **XXX**

Chakotay looked down at the small pale hand holding tight to his pinky and ring finger. He could remember a time when he had been a small boy, holding his father's hand the same way as they walked through the forested areas on Dorvan V. Back then, he'd been a little afraid of the woods- too many dark fairytales and ancient fables told by the wise women he and his sister had been babysat by- and holding his father's hand this way had made him feel much braver. Kolopack had only needed to glance down at him to see the shot of fear in him before holding his hand out like a lifeline. So, perhaps, when he, himself, had seen the same look in Mezoti's eyes as they left the holodeck, it was instinct that had him offering her his hand.

Icheb lead them out of the turbolift on deck eight, with the twins closely behind him. Mezoti stayed close to Chakotay's side, hand firmly planted in his. He was genuinely surprised that she chose to stay next to him as eager as she was to return to Seven. He figured she'd drop his hand like it had burned her and run down the corridor to Astrometrics. For a moment, he was a little proud that she apparently trusted him. The four children had been troubled and difficult in the beginning, but maybe they were beginning to relax out and form attachments. They certainly were attached to Seven.

"Chakotay?" Rebi held back a step, falling in line on Chakotay's unoccupied side. He looked up with his big, brown eyes, a pleased smile on his face. "Will you tell us stories again? You're a better storyteller than Mister Neelix."

"Stories, huh?" he asked, reaching out and tousling the boy's hair. "What kind of stories?"

"We like the funny ones." Azan said in front of them, turning his head back to see them as he walked behind Icheb. "All Mister Neelix's stories have Talaxian proverbs at the end of them."

"We enjoy his stories." Rebi said quickly, "But yours are superior."

"And more relevant." added his twin.

"I prefer.." Mezoti said softly, haltingly, looking up at Chakotay as she gave his fingers an extra squeeze. "..the scary ones."

"Oh, you do?" Chakotay had told them several of his father's own stories in their time on the holodeck over the past few weeks- a handful of which had been kind of scary. Perhaps the scary stories were what had Mezoti so upset? He would have to take more care in his selection.

Mezoti nodded. "Especially the ones about the skinwalkers."

Azan visibly shuddered. "No. I don't like that one."

Icheb finally commented, snorting before saying, "You already have an identical twin. How can you be afraid of body-doubles?"

The shuddering boy scoffed. "My brother is my brother. A skinwalker is not my brother."

The smallest child smirked darkly. "How do you know he is your brother? What if he was already switched?" she asked in a teasing voice.

Chakotay had been around them long enough to know where this was going. "Now, now, children.."

"I am not a skinwalker!" Rebi said in an offended voice.

"I know Rebi isn't a skinwalker because I can hear him." Azan answered, gesturing to his head over where his neural transceiver was located. "Nice try, Zotti."

"Children." Chakotay's voice carried an aire of command, cutting off the rest of their tease before it could become an argument. He gestured ahead of them. "Look, we're back at Astrometrics. Let's just-"

Beside him, Mezoti gasped, releasing his hand and sprinting on ahead of them to the double doors. She was the first inside, with the others quickly behind her. When Chakotay rounded the double doors, Seven was nowhere to be found. A surprised Jenny was standing at the middle console, her hands out on Mezoti's shoulders.

"Hey, kiddo, you're alright." Jenny said to the little girl as the tears began to trail down Mezoti's face. "Seven just went to-"

Mezoti wrenched away from her before she could finish, darting back to Chakotay and taking fistfuls of his uniform jacket as she burried her face against his sternum. "Where did Seven go? Why isn't she here?"

Icheb raised an eyebrow at his Borg sister. "She is likely in the bay if she is not here, Mezoti."

"Miss Jenny?" Rebi padded to the middle console and the twin standing beside it. His own twin followed him, standing next to Jenny's side as Chakotay hefted Mezoti up with a grunt.

"Seven will be right back." Jenny said, watching the Commander carry Mezoti to the console. "She just had to go to-"

"She won't come back!" Mezoti cried, hiding her face against Chakotay's shoulder. "I need her back! I need her!"

The Commander pat Mezoti's back with the hand not supporting the girl's weight, butting up to the console and resting her on its edge. "Hey, hey," he said soothingly, "Calm down, and we will find her." He glanced at Jenny. "Crewman?"

"She went to sickbay." Jenny reported, sympathetic eyes on Mezoti's back.

The young Norcadian sat up at the information, attempting to shove Chakotay away to get down. "I have to go! I have to find her! Let me go!"

"Now, hold on, scout!" protested Chakotay, holding firm in anticipation of the strength he knew the child possessed. "She's coming back!"

"But I need her! I have to find her! Let me go!"

"Mezoti, if you just wait one minute-"

When Seven stepped into Astrometrics, the noise level inside ratcheted up as both twins and Icheb turned to her and began speaking all at once. Mezoti, seeing her, pulled away from Chakotay, pushing past him and sprinting to her guardian. Crossing the room in three strides, she latched herself onto Seven's side, held tight by her arms wound around the blonde's ribs. The twins followed anxiously, leaving Jenny's side, eyes wide and expressions unsure.

"Where were you?!" cried Mezoti, "You said you would be here!"

Seven lifted the eight year old up with more ease after her sickbay visit, carrying her back to the middle console where Chakotay stood watching, Azan and Rebi at her heels. "I required a short visit to sickbay. I was not gone for more than eight minutes."

"We just got here." Said Chakotay, "But as soon as she saw you weren't in here.."

"There are only so many places I can go on the ship, Mezoti." Seven said patiently, setting the little girl down on her own two feet in front of her.

"What if it had been the Albiro or the Veek or the Vidiians?" Mezoti wept. "They all possess superior transporter capabilities that could break through Voyager's shields and take us!"

Seven fought not to scrunch her nose. "Mezoti, Vidiians and Albiro inhabit spacial grids of 90339 and beyond to grid 12246." She made Mezoti look up into her eyes. "And the Veek have been extinct for nearly four hundred years. We are in no danger from any of them."

"Biology persists!" Argued Mezoti, "That's what Chakotay says! There could still be Veek out there but we are no longer Borg so we will not know until they-"

"Zotti." Seven's tone was a little sharper, cutting off the burgeoning rant. She cupped her metal-laced hand beneath the girl's chin. "I assure you that we are in no immediate danger from species 6645, 2144, or 3343, nor are we anywhere near where their territories- past _and_ present- are."

"Voyager is pretty tough." Chakotay added. "We've been through our share of scraps, and we have always came out the other side."

The little girl sniffed, watery eyes looking blearily up into Seven's. "Where did you go? Why did Chakotay say you would be in Astrometrics waiting for me if you would not?"

"Chakotay did not know that I was going to take a detour to sickbay just as I did not know that you would beat me here." explained Seven. "But we are here now."

"Don't go again." Mezoti pleaded softly, her breath still little wheezing gasps. "Please, Seven.."

"Perhaps we should take her to sickbay." Icheb suggested. "And see if the Doctor can-"

"No! I don't want to go to sickbay!" The wheezing gasps became little coughs as the level of calm Seven had brought her was shattered at the thought of the Doctor. Small hands that had been simply holding to Seven's sides now dug in, gathering up what little slack her biosuit would allow. Mezoti's face was pressed tightly to Seven's chest, holding herself firmly in place. "Please don't take me to sickbay, Seven- please!"

"We aren't going to sickbay." Seven was quick to try to reassure, her arms winding tightly around Mezoti's back.

"Could the Doctor give her something?" Chakotay asked, thinking back on the information the Doctor had shared with him today about how unique their biology truly was. "It could possibly take him days to-"

"No matter." Seven cut him off, her jaw setting.

He gave her a semi-defensive look. "Hey, the Doctor only said-"

"No Doctor!" Mezoti squeaked with a warning gag. "Seven.."

"Here, boys," Jenny gave the twins' arms a good tug, redirecting them to the little box of art supplies beneath the main console. "Why don't we color a picture while Seven and the Commander take care of-" She was cut off by Seven rushing past her towards he door, Mezoti gagging again in her arms. Jenny yanked Azan out of the way as Chakotay followed the blonde guardian out into the hall towards the employee bathrooms.

"Miss Jenny?" Rebi watched the doors shut behind his guardian and sister with a look of bewilderment. "Why does Mezoti keep getting sick?"

"She's just having a hard time right now." said Jenny, reaching up and tapping her com badge. "Jenny to Meghan Delaney."

"She is suffering from another panic attack." Icheb said, taking the box of art supplies from the crewman. He held the box of wax coloring instruments out to Azan. "I bet I can draw a perfect replica of a class two Starfleet issue freight shuttle before you can."

Azan took the crayons, pulling out the only grey. "You're on."

 ***** _"Yeah, Jen?"_ *****

"Can you swing by the lab?"

 ***** _"Sure. Give me a second."_ *****

Rebi glanced at his brother and Icheb as they moved to the platform to compete, but he remained in place beside the crewman. "Miss Jenny?"

"Yeah, sugar?"

"I-"

On the platform, Azan tossed a purple crayon at his brother. "Come on, Rebi." He, too, glanced momentarily at the shut doorway, but returned his attention to the half-drawn shuttle on his paper. "Assist me to finish."

 **XXX**

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry.." Mezoti wheezed over the bowl of the single toilet before gagging again. Seven made a soft, non-commital noise behind her, unbuttoning the back of Mezoti's soiled dress. The eight year old coughed, the arms bracing her up over the toilet shaking. "I'm.. I'm sorry, Seven.."

"Shhh." Seven hushed her, gently taking one hand up from the cold steel to peel the dress away and then the other. "You haven't done anything you are required to apologize for." The blonde bunched up the dress and turned to shove it in the replicator for recycling behind her, being careful not to look down at the stream of sick soaked into the side of her own clothing lest she need to join Mezoti over the toilet. She moved her hands down to wipe them clean over her hips, then winced in disgust when the left side was made worse by the action.

"B-but.." Mezoti whimpered. "I-I threw up.. on.."

"It was an accident." said Seven, reaching back with her cleaner right hand to start the zipper down the back of her soiled biosuit. She paused only to pluck her com badge off to lay on the counter by the small sink before letting her biosuit fall down to her waist, held up by her hips. Mezoti seemed finished, her stomach empty, but remained in place over the toilet bowl weeping and spitting the taste out of her mouth.

From outside in the hallway, a fist knocked on the sealed door before Chakotay's muffled voice came through it. " _Is she okay? Seven?_ "

"Are.. are you mad?" Mezoti sniffled. "I threw up on-"

"I'm not mad." Seven, ignoring Chakotay, toed out of her boots as she eyed the open stall and the single showerhead coming down from the ceiling. Deck eight was home to not only Cargo Bay 2 and Astrometrics, but the deuterium tankage and processing as well, so the bathrooms closest to that area were equipped with decontamination showers to quickly wash harmful chemicals away before they could eat into sensitive skin- not the nicest place to have to shower, but they really had no choice. "Can you stand unassisted?"

"Yes." Mezoti slowly stood straight, her hands coming to rest over her sore stomach muscles. "I don't like throwing up, Seven.." She turned to her guardian behind her a pitiful mess.

Seven moved to the shower stall and pushed the big silver activation button. There was no temperature control. The water that began to stream down was lukewarm at best when she held her hand under the edge of the pressurized cascade. "Come here, Mezoti."

The eight year old nodded, quickly stripping off the last of her soiled clothing and shoes. She paid little mind to Seven doing the same before she was helped to stand under the water. At the temperature, she drew in a loud, startled gasp- blue eyes wide open as her hands reached out to grab Seven around the middle. "Cold!" She squeaked when Seven only moved them both under the water and began to work on getting the sick out of Mezoti's brown hair.

Again, Chakotay knocked on the sealed door. " _Seven?_ "

 **XXX**

" _I am assisting her now, Commander._ " Seven's voice was muffled through the sealed bathroom door, but Chakotay could hear the irritation in it. He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and leaning up against the wall beside the door to wait. Preoccupied with straining his ears to hear Mezoti and Seven inside the bathroom, he didn't hear Crewman Delaney walk up until she was beside him.

"Good afternoon, Commander." Meghan said, holding back the amused smile when the older man jumped in surprise. She ducked into Astrometrics before she let out the laugh bubbling up her throat.

"Good afternoon." Chakotay called back out before the doors slid shut, raising an eyebrow at the peal of laughter cut off by the doors to Astrometrics closing behind the young woman. With a roll of his eyes, he leaned back against the wall. Was that water he heard?

 **XXX**

Seven squeezed the towel over Mezoti's hair before settling it around her girl's shoulder like a cape and taking up her own to dry with. The eight year old quietly followed suit, the worst of her panic attack over. Still, her arms continued to shake and her knees to wobble as she stepped up to lean on the vanity to continue to dry. Seven was more efficient, quickly drying enough to slip into a freshly replicated blue biosuit.

"My stomach still hurts." Mezoti murmured, watching her guardian pull a clean navy blue dress and black leggings out of the replicator. "And my knees are all shakey."

The blonde paused, afraid to offer the girl a trip to sickbay in case it brought on another streak of panic. After a second, she bunched up the legs of Mezoti's pants, and held them down. "Put your foot in." she directed quietly. "Your stomach will settle soon enough."

Once more, the Commander knocked on the door. "You guys alright?"

Mezoti's lips curled into a small smile at the irritated rolling of Seven's eyes. She braced her hands on the counter behind her as her guardian pulled her black leggings up, taking over when they reached her hips. She lifted her arms over her head for Seven to help her into the simple navy dress, settling them up around behind Seven's neck in a hug as the blonde buttoned up the back for her.

"Seven?" Chakotay's voice was concerned. "Do we need to take her to sickbay? Are you alright?"

"I don't want to go to-" Mezoti began, her arms tightening.

Seven held in her growl towards the Commander, lifting Mezoti up. "No sickbay." she was quick to say. "I know you don't want to go, _sötnos_." She winced as she felt the first sob bubble up against her shoulder, frustration warring in her mind with sympathy- frustration at the Commander, and sympathy for her youngest charge.

"Okay.." Mezoti mumbled between soft, hiccuping sobs.

Before she could get worked up again, Seven pushed the button to unlock the door, slipping into the hallway barefoot with her hair damp and curly down to her shoulderblades. She breezed past Chakotay as he stood up from leaning against the wall, turning to head back down to Astrometrics.

"Is she alright?" Chakotay asked, following them. His eyes went from the bare feet on the floor up to the top of Seven and Mezoti's head. "Hey, why is your hair wet?"

"Irrelevant." Seven hissed out, slipping into her lab.

"Seven?" Rebi and Azan looked up from the pictures they were showing off to Meghan Delaney as she sat indian style with them on the platform while Jenny continued to work. Rebi continued. "Is Mezoti sick?"

"Is she defective?" asked Azan.

"I'm not defective!" Mezoti protested tearfully as she was placed on her feet by the main console. She continued to hold to Seven, sliding her arms around the woman's middle again, but turned her head up to glare at her brothers.

"Boys." Seven said in a warning tone. Azan ducked his head; Rebi only frowned, handing his picture to Meghan before standing. When he came down the steps and around to her side, the blonde raised an arm to let him settle against her side with Mezoti. He put one of his arms around the eight year old, too, resting his head against Seven's shoulder.

Jenny and Meghan offered them pleasant but knowing smiles. "Any better?" asked Jenny.

"Did she get sick?" Chakotay asked, catching up to them.

Mezoti answered in a small voice. "Yes.." She turned her head enough to see him from one eye. "Everywhere."

"Oooh," Megan murmured in sympathy. "I've had nights like that."

"You had last night like that." commented Jenny, inputting the last of her algorithms into the console to run again.

Azan looked at Meghan curiously. "You suffer from similar bouts of sickness as Mezoti?"

The older twin looked back at him with a bit of a sheepish smile. She shook her head. "Oh, no, I bring mine on myself."

"Mezoti can't help hers." said Jenny.

Chakotay ignored both sets of twins to meet Seven's eyes. "Do you think the Doctor could come up with something to help her? Perhaps a sickbay visit would be the best thing to do for-"

"I'm not broken!" Mezoti protested, shaking her head. "I don't want to see the Doctor!"

"She would calm down and be functioning within acceptable parameters if you would quit insisting she go to sickbay." Seven challenged, not hiding the irritation in her voice or her eyes.

Chakotay set his jaw. "If you hadn't run out today, we could have discussed this in sickbay and not-"

"Please, Seven!" Mezoti cried. "I just want to stay with you- not the Doctor!" She stood up on her tiptoes, bouncing on the balls of her feet to be picked up again. "Please!"

"You know I only want what's best for them." continued Chakotay, "And something has to be-"

With her patience for Chakotay wearing thin, and with the sudden flood of her own anxiety at Mezot's renewing panic, Seven reached her boiling point. There was no holding back the irritated snarl, cutting Chakotay off as she reached down and yanked the eight year old up into her arms. She didn't care if the Commander was offended- hell, _she_ was offended- and she wasn't going to listen to him another minute. With her arm tight around Mezoti's back to hold her in place, she turned and stalked out of Astrometrics, heading for their bay- and hopefully, some peace. Behind her, she could hear the twins chase after them. Their own anxiety at her behavior amped up the signal of their neural interfaces, and she could feel their worry as if it were her own. She was sure that they could also feel hers.

A surge of guilt washed through her as she entered the bay. The children had done nothing wrong, and they did not deserve to be caught up in her ire. At the dais of her alcove, she sat down. Mezoti stayed in her lap, head hidden against Seven's throat, and quiet but for a few stray choking hiccups. Seven leaned her head down to rest her forehead against Mezoti's shoulder, still holding her tight as the twins scuttled into the room.

"I-I'm sorry." Mezoti whispered.

Seven barely shook her head. She looked up only to acknowledge Rebi and Azan as they cautiously took up the space on either side of her. "Do not be sorry." she said softly, moving her arms to bring the twins in against her with their sister. "I am not angry with any of you, _mina älsklingar_."

"Promise?" Azan asked softly.

"Promise." Seven confirmed. "You've not done anything wrong."

"Are you mad at the Commander?" Rebi asked.

She started to answer, but held her words in. They didn't need to know what was going on- that Chakotay had dug too deep. Finally, she shook her head. After that, they were silent for a time, huddled together on the dais until Mezoti stopped shaking, and Seven was calm enough to release them.

 **XXX**

Chakotay watched Seven storm out of the room with the three youngest, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. "Fine, then!" When he glanced back to the main console, both Delaney sisters quickly looked away from him, politely pretending to ignore him.

Icheb, who had watched the entire exchange silently from the platform, got to his feet. Thanks to the twins, he had an insider view of what was going on in his foster's head and why. He only noted the protective streak that rose in him when he felt Azan and Rebi acknowledge it. "She is angry with you." he said to the Commander, rounding the platform and walking down the steps. "Exactly what did you say to her in sickbay?"

The Commander looked at the teenager with a raised eyebrow. "I didn't say a thing to her in sickbay."

The teenager scowled. "Then why-"

Icheb's voice was cut off as Harry Kim came across the com. ***** _"Commander?"_ *****

The first officer clicked his badge. "Here."

 ***** _"Tom thinks we may have found something. We need you to come up here."_ *****

Chakotay sighed. "On my way." He looked to Icheb like he may say more, but stopped himself. "See you when we have class again, Icheb." He glanced at the Delaneys. "Crewman."

 **XXX**

 **Love it? Hate it? Tell me in a review!**

 **~LM**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Notes: Hello and welcome to Chapter 5 of What We Need! Thanks for coming! I hope you enjoy your stay. Do to my hours at work jumping up, being able to pump these chapters out has become a thing of the past. In a few weeks, once Christmas has come and gone, things will even out again. I appreciate your patience. :)**

 **Thanks again to Scifiromance and Starshine for letting me tell them a story! MUAH!**

 **Obligatory Legalities: Don't own them. Would fix them if I did...**

 **Enjoy!**

 **~LM**

 **XXX**

 _January 20- evening..._

 **XXX**

That night, Seven waited until all four children were peacefully regenerating in their alcoves before powering down the Cargo Bay's console. With one last glance back at the children, she quietly slipped from the room. She half worried that Mezoti would somehow sense her missing and awaken, but if things continued on as they had been the past week, she would never get anything done. Not that she couldn't complete her Astrometrics work- she could do that mostly one-handed even with Mezoti attached to her waist- but she didn't necessarily want anyone to see what she was looking up tonight on the big screen. It certainly wouldn't do for the children to think anything more was wrong.

When she walked into Astrometrics, she expected it to be dark and empty. Instead, both Delaney sisters stood at the middle console. They whipped around to see her as she entered. Her presence was apparently as surprising as theirs was. For a heartbeat or two, it was a bit of a standoff. Finally, Jenny spoke.

"Hello, Seven." she said with a smile that had grown easier over the years working beneath the guarded blonde. "Did you need something?"

Seven fought to keep from wringing her hands. "Oh, I.." She straightened her back as she usually did when she felt nervous. "Ensign Jenny Delaney, your shift ended four hours ago." She turned her eyes to the second woman. "And yours does not begin for another forty-five minutes."

"Oh, yeah, well.." Meghan began, gesturing to the large screen and the anomaly their coworker, crewmates, and captain were still lost in that was upon it. "Jenny was just updating me on what was charted and what is left from today."

"And I usually spend at least an hour or two in here with Meghan at night." said Jenny. "There really isn't anything else to do on this ship most nights."

Meghan snorted. "Not unless you want to see what Ensign Blain is up to tonight." She smirked in victory when Jenny smacked her shoulder to shut her up. "Astrometrics it is, then."

The blonde finally stepped forward, crossing the room to the middle console. "You do not have social engagements to attend to?"

The twins shook their heads. "Not really." Meghan continued. "What with the Captain gone and all.. no one is in too much of a partying mood."

"Right." agreed Jenny. She signed out of the main console and turned her attention on her twin. "I can show you the rest on the side console."

"Okay."

Seven watched the two move to the side of the room, Jenny pulling an extra stool up to one of the stations for Meghan to join her. The ex-drone was still a bit pensive, glancing back up to the big viewscreen. She needed the information.. but she didn't want to air out all the children's dirty laundry. After a few second's deliberation, she started up her searches, having the computer translate all the font into the Borg symbols that were so engrained in her mind that they may as well be her mother tongue. The pictures would remain, but unless the Delaney sisters had been studying Borg without her knowledge then her research was only gibberish to them.

After an hour's work, there didn't seem to be much in the way of consistent advice except for consistency itself, as well as patience- and in some cases, medicinal intervention. Not that she doubted the Doctor's ability to synthesize some kind of anti-anxiety medication for Mezoti, but whether or not he could come up with one that nanoprobes would ignore and in a dose that wouldn't be toxic to a willowy fifty-three pound Norcadian eight year old was... well, unlikely, at best. At least not now. Not today or tomorrow when she needed it- maybe a month off when they would hopefully be past all this mess.

To the second point, she had never been the most patient of people. Being raised by the Borg had ruined her of that, it seemed. Growing up where orders were given and carried out without lengthy deliberation and everything seems instantaneous did not a patient person make. Yet, when it came to the children, the well of her patience grew daily. Oh, she still lost her patience over little quarrels, insubordination, and little lies, but if Mezoti or Azan or Rebi or Icheb ever needed her to sit with them or hold their hand- or hold them? Never. She would drop whatever she was doing without much second thought. Whoever would have thought her capable?

So that left consistency. She had tried before to be consistent with schedules and protocols that they all understood, and it had blown up in her face. Thankfully, Chakotay had caught her error early enough to correct it, but still.. What could she do? She certainly didn't feel any closer to an answer now than she did an hour before.

"Looking up things for the kiddos?" Meghan asked, appearing quietly at her side. Jenny, beside her, studied the scrolling Borg code and the stock photo of several children in a large playroom displayed on the large screen.

"I.. yes." Seven held in the sigh. Since when did she feel so tired?

"I've told Meghan about Mezoti's behavior lately." Jenny said quietly.

"We went through a similar stage when our parents moved us off-world when we were little." said Meghan.

"Our mother about went crazy trying to deal with the both of us."

"Not that she wasn't always one time-out away from going crazy." Jenny smirked. "We were a handful."

"Almost felt bad for her then." Meghan chuckled. "Feel bad for you now. Four must be worse."

Seven said nothing, choosing to download the relevant information for later.

"I can remember days when Mama would open the door and shove us outside in the back yard-" said Jenny.

"When we lived planet-side, anyway." added Meghan.

"-And she'd lock the door behind us." Jenny chuckled, reminiscing. "I always wondered what she did while we were playing."

"I bet she took a nap." murmured Meghan, signing into the console as Seven stepped aside. She pulled the current map of the class T cluster up onto the big screen, watching for a second as the computer updated its minute changes in realtime. " _I'd_ have taken a nap."

Her off-duty twin leaned against the edge of the console, watching the slowly swirling mass on the screen. After a few seconds, she gasped, turning back to Seven. "Oh! I almost forgot!" She bent down to where the children's art box was hidden beneath the main console and pulled out three sheets of paper. With a smile, she held them out to Seven. "Icheb drew a pretty impressive..." Her face fell slightly. "Whatever kind of vessel he drew.."

Seven glanced down. "A Knix Tri-wing.. Species 8688." She shuffled the other papers, looking at the simpler drawings of Starfleet vessels.

"Anyway," Jenny smiled. "They ran off earlier without taking them."

The blonde nodded, aligning the papers' edges and tucking them beneath her arm against her side. She nodded to the twin sisters. "Thank you." she said simply before turning and heading back towards the door.

"Goodnight, Seven." Meghan called after her, watching her slip through the doors. When their boss was gone, she turned to her mirror image. "So... what DO you think Ensign Blain is up to tonight?"

"Meghan!"

 **XXX**

The Cargo Bay was still dark and quiet when she reentered, the only sound the soft noises the alcoves made- familiar and soothing for her still frazzled nerves. The papers under her arm were pulled out and placed carefully on the top of the container closest to her alcove. She would let the boys decide tomorrow whether they wanted to keep their drawings or recycle them for fresh paper. For now, they were regenerating silently as she walked to their alcoves. Standing between the foot of Rebi and Azan's daises, her eyes fell first on Icheb in the corner. The eldest boy standing still and tall, he had only been with them for three months, but she could swear he was already losing some of the round baby fat in his face, growing into a young man in front of her eyes.

The twins beside him were just as peaceful, their faces still full and round with youth. Azan smiled suddenly, some pleasant dream or idea passing through his mind. Perhaps a memory? Beside him, Rebi mirrored his expression. On the other side of the twins, Mezoti stood smallest of all. Her expression was finally relaxed in regeneration, her little nose turned up as her eyes moved lazily beneath their lids. Seven began to turn back towards her own dais, ready to regenerate herself, when she noticed with a frown that Mezoti's blonde babydoll hung limply from the little girl's hand. Had she gone to bed with it without Seven noticing?

"Sötnos." Seven murmured affectionately, stepping up to Mezoti's dais and gently removing the doll from the child's hand. She waited a few seconds to make sure that Mezoti's regeneration had not been disturbed before stepping down and taking the doll to the little basket of toys the children shared. Most of the basket's contents had been Naomi's at one point. The children's presence had been so sudden that Sam had been a bit of a godsend, going through some of Naomi's things and passing them along so that the Borglings had something to do in their spare time. Not that she hadn't replicated them a few simple toys- the doll for Mezoti, for instance, and the soccer ball Azan was so fond of. In all honesty, she didn't have enough experience with children to know the kinds of things they would like to play with.

Azan's ball was on the floor instead of in the basket, having rolled its way over to the first row of containers. Seven set after it before she could regenerate, leaning down to scoop it up. She misjudged her step at the last second, and instead of stopping just before reaching the toy, her foot came into contact with it to send it rolling back behind the line of containers. A sigh breezed out of her lips. Her alcove was nearly calling her name- humming just on the edge of her awareness. Tomorrow, the children would be more thoroughly supervised as they picked up for the night.

Back behind the containers, she had to rely on her enhanced eye to see in the darkness, but she could see the children had made the back corner their own when she hadn't been looking. Several of Mezoti's and Rebi's drawings were attached to the wall. A folded grey blanket made a seat beneath it next to a pile of storybooks holding up a small standard issue lantern likely picked from one of the storage crates. A basket on its side with several cups and plates inside simulated a replicator, and a random round container lid was set like a table. Snuggled down in a box at the end of the folded blanket chair were Mezoti's other two dolls, swaddled and tucked into their makeshift bed. The ball had rolled up to the table, knocking over the cup and handmade paper flower decorating the middle of it.

For just a moment, the thought struck Seven to clean it all up- take down the pages and put away the pilfered equipment, stick the dollies back with the other toys, and the lid and basket back in their proper place- but she stopped, giving the mock-playhouse another once over. Did the children long for a real place like this? For proper quarters? Her chest constricted. This was not something she could give to them. She didn't have a proper home of her own- only this bay and the little bit of it she had been allowed to carve out for her own. It was enough for herself, but was it enough for them? Was this another way she was deficient in their care? Of course they had all been to Naomi's quarters before; the children knew that Naomi lived very differently than they did. But was their living area insufficient?

Seven frowned. Did it have to be? Standing tall with her arms crossed over her bust, she eyed the space. Why couldn't they have this bit of the bay? In all the time she had been on Voyager, the Captain had never added to this room. The contents of the containers changed now and then- that was true- but the number of containers had not changed. If the Captain wasn't going to use this space, why couldn't they? The children needed stability as well as consistency. She wondered if they had a space their own if they would not feel more stable- or more tied to this ship and its crew. They would always be isolated- they would always need to regenerate- but perhaps she could make the bay feel more like a home for them.

She left the soccer ball where it rested against the play table, turning and slipping out of the playhouse without disturbing it.

 **XXX**

 _January 22_

 **XXX**

"Seven?" Mezoti gave the hand she held clasped in hers a soft jerk, turning her blue eyes up to her guardian's face. "Seven?"

"Yes, Zotti?" Seven murmured, looking down from the boys retrieving their lunch trays to see her youngest charge.

"I.." The little girl frowned as they were pulled along the line to get their trays. "I want to go home."

"Home?" Seven questioned before looking up to accept the tray from Neelix's outstretched hand. "Thank you, Mister Neelix."

"You're welcome, Seven." returned the Talaxian, lifting another tray. "And one for Mezoti."

Seven shook her hand free of Mezoti's and handed her the tray offered. "Come along, Mezoti." she said, her tone brooking no argument in front of the other people in line for lunch. When the girl opened her mouth as though to resist, a lifted eyebrow was enough to get her walking back towards the table the other Borglings sat at. Rebi was already digging into his tray when the two sat side by side across from the twins. Azan watched him jealously, slowly picking at his own tray. Icheb ignored them all for another PADD, blindly stabbing his fork into his food and bringing it beneath his PADD and up to his mouth. "Icheb, no PADDs at the table."

The teenager nearly pouted, skimming his sentence before looking up at his guardian. "I'm almost finished."

"You may finish after you have eaten."

"Why can I not finish it now?"

"Icheb.."

The pout took over as Icheb huffed, putting the PADD down in his lap before gathering up the entire hunk of the 'meat-of-the-day' he had been served and shoving it into his mouth in one go. He could barely close his lips over it, but managed after a few quick chews. Seven scrunched her nose in distaste at his antics as the twins laughed. Swallowing his meat, Icheb quickly scooped up the last of his sidedish and gave it equal treatment. Within two minutes, his plate was empty. "May I read now?"

Rebi and Azan guffawed beside him, miming Icheb's antics to one another with puffed out cheeks. Mezoti curled her lip, disgusted. Seven rolled her eyes, but nodded. "Really, Icheb." she murmured to herself, stirring the brown paste on her tray. "Did you even taste it?"

"Unfortunately." returned the teen, his face already hidden behind his PADD.

"Icheb." Seven's voice was more warning.

Icheb dropped his PADD long enough to glance at Neelix still handing out food across the room. "I mean, it was delicious. I will tell Neelix thank you." he amended before returning his attention to his PADD.

"Seven.." Mezoti half-whined beside her, pushing her full tray away and leaning against the blonde's arm. "Can we go back now?"

"Are you gonna eat that?" Rebi pointed to the chunk of meat on Mezoti's abandoned tray. "Can I have it?"

"I don't want it." Mezoti said, squeezing her way beneath Seven's arm. "Seven, I want to go back.."

"Back where?" Seven asked, looking down at the little head that had appeared to lean against the side of her breast. She settled her arm more comfortably around the little girl.

"Home." Mezoti answered quietly.

"We live on a starship, Zotti." Azan said, taking the small cup of fruit from Mezoti's tray before Rebi could get to it and popping a small round black berry in his mouth. "We are home right now."

"Yeah." agreed Rebi, moving his own fruit cup well away from his brother's reach. "This is home."

The little girl sniffed. "Back to our cargo bay." she corrected, looking back up at Seven who was trying to eat. "Please?"

Seven looked down at the miserable expression on her youngest charge's face, and felt her own stomach drop. Her fork was set down and her attention turned on the ticking time bomb beneath her arm. "What is wrong?"

"I just want to go back to the bay." Mezoti whimpered, her eyes beginning to well up with tears. "Please?"

"We aren't going back to the bay, Zotti." Azan eyed his brother's fruit cup as he quickly finished Mezoti's. "We're going to accompany Naomi and her mother and Neelix on the holodeck."

"It's going to be fun." Rebi said happily beside him, licking his spoon clean. "Naomi says Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Kim made it so you know it will be fun."

"I bet that I can solve all of the puzzles before you can." Icheb challenged the twins, pulling his nose up out of his PADD long enough to smirk at them. "I bet I stay a room ahead of you the whole time."

"There's two of us." Azan said, rising to the challenge. "That means there will be two minds against one."

"Two deficient minds against one superior mind." teased the teen.

"Icheb." Seven scolded, giving him a warning raised eyebrow before the outraged expression on Azan's face could become another argument.

"I'm only teasing." Icheb said a little sheepishly. Not chastised for long, he turned a smirk on the boys again. "But I still bet I can beat you."

"I don't want to go." Mezoti mumbled. "Can't you come with us, Seven? Just this once?"

The pit in her stomach deepened. Seven pushed her tray away and turned bodily to Mezoti, gently easing the girl back to sit on her own, and putting her hands on the child's shoulders. "I wish I could accompany you, but I cannot today." she said quietly but firmly. "I must assist Lieutenant Torres in engineering while you play on the holodeck."

"Can't Lieutenant Torres do the repairs herself?" Mezoti asked, eyes half-hopeful as she grasped at proverbial straws. "Isn't that why she has an engineering team? You have Jenny and Meghan and Tal so that they can do things in Astrometrics when you cannot-"

"Mezoti," Seven cupped a hand under Mezoti's chin. "I must help her boost the deflector array in case we need to enter the class T cluster in our efforts to rescue the Captain and the away team."

"But-"

"Zotti." The eight year old pouted as she was quietened, listening as Seven continued. "It will only take an hour. I should be done before your holodeck program closes."

"Is it time to go yet?" Azan asked, sneaking his arm around his brother to grab at the fruit cup. Rebi swatted his brother's hand away with a laugh.

Seven checked her internal chronometer. "After you bus your trays. Have you finished eating?"

Rebi looked down at the hunk of meat still on his tray. "Uhh.." His eyes swiveled over to Icheb before he took a page from the teen's book and shoved the whole piece in his mouth.

The blonde guardian scowled at him. "Rebi!" Icheb and Azan only laughed as the other boy attempted to chew his lunch without dribbling brown gravy down his chin. "You'll choke!"

" _Wee-web wibbit!_ " Rebi tried to speak around his mouthful, pointing at the oldest boy. " _Eee ip!_ "

"Gross!" Mezoti grimaced, turning her face away from the scene.

Seven held out her stack of napkins to the twins. "I don't care if Icheb did it- he should not have, either. Do not soil your clothing."

 **XXX**

"Oh, Seven," Sam smiled as the door to her quarters slid open. She stepped back to allow the five Borglings to enter. "Punctual as always." She turned her head towards the bedrooms. "Naomi, the children are here!"

Naomi came out of her room quick as a flash, a big grin on her face. She made a beeline for Mezoti, pulling the girl out from under Seven's arm. "Zotti! Come look! Lieutenant Paris sent me a map to help us beat the boys!" Mezoti stopped dead, nearly knocking the half-Ktarian off her feet. "Woah!"

"Map?" Mezoti asked incredulously. "He thinks we need a MAP to beat the boys?" She shook her head, following after Naomi on her own. "No way!" The twins, not to be outdone, shared a conspiratorial glance before sprinting after them. Icheb, rolling his eyes, followed at a more sedate pace.

Seven watched them go with a pang of anxiety, her now empty hands came over her belly to wring once before she caught herself. She managed to smile and nod to Sam. "Thank you for allowing the children to accompany you to the holodeck." she said sincerely, only feeling slightly better when she could hear the children laughing in the next room. "They need.."

"Oh, no worries." Sam said with a maternal smile. "We're glad to take them for a bit. Neelix should be here as soon as he finishes the lunch rush." Her smile dropped for a moment. "He told me that Mezoti has been having.. fits?" The shot of anxiety that ran through Seven at her comment was visible for all the world to see. Sam put her hand on Seven's arm. "It's perfectly normal. Most children go through similar phases. Naomi did when she was quite small and I had to leave her for work. They do grow out of them eventually."

The blonde forced herself to relax, giving Samantha another bird-like nod. "I have done some research on it." Her attention swiveled back to the bedroom door. "If Mezoti.. needs.. me.. for anything-"

"Don't worry, Seven. You'll be the first to know."

 **XXX**

"Piece of _plaQta_!" B'Elanna slammed the panel shut over the last set of conduits down the long Jeffries tube she was sat in. She knew Seven was sat beside her- could even hear the soft sound of breathing- but she may as well have been alone for all she could see. "And now the light is out!"

"Lieutenant, if you would just-"

"Can it, Seven. I don't need your input on this one." hissed the chief engineer.

In the dark, Seven crossed her arms, leaning back against the side of the tube behind her. Even her enhanced eye could not make out anything in the absolute darkness of the tube, but she knew very well that if the half-Klingon were to find the laser spanner that had been a mere two inches from the end of her foot, and used it to illuminate the small space around them, she would be more than capable of seeing how to rewire the conduit that had burst. The smaller woman had treated her like an unruly child for the last twenty minutes- she could certainly sit back and sulk like one. It wasn't until she heard the chief engineer gasp that she wished she had helped.

" _Ghay-cha_!"

Something wet, cold, and viscous sprayed over them. Seven couldn't hold in the startled yelp as she was drenched in cold fluid. Beside her, B'Elanna slid over her, scrambling away towards the other end of the tube. Seven followed blindly, her hands and knees slipping on the grating. "What is that?!"

"Coolant!" B'Elanna answered, coughing and spitting as she came to a stop. "I nicked the tube trying to find the-" She cut herself off with a gag.

Seven tried to wipe the fluid off of her face, but her hands, arms, and chest were soaked. Spitting the metallic taste out of her own mouth, she slid past B'Elanna and tried to force open the end of the tube. It took three tries with her hands as slick as they were, but she managed, bringing light into the tube from the junction next to them, illuminating just how covered in thick blue goo the two women were. B'Elanna was covered from the waist up, globs of congealing blue jelly rolling down her form to puddle in her lap. Seven herself was just as covered, the cold sinking through her biosuit to chill her. A shiver began at the bottom of her ribs and made its way up.

"Grab an emergency light from the junction." B'Elanna said, pulling her jacket off and using the dry inside to wipe her face clean.

The blonde sighed, slipping into the junction and retrieving two flashlights from the red emergency kit strapped to the wall. She flipped one on, then rolled the other one down to B'Elanna before reentering the tube after her. "It is 1356, Lieutenant." she said, crawling after B'Elanna back to their previous position. "I must retrieve the children soon. I left them in Samantha Wildman's care and-"

"I'm sorry, Seven, but the kids will have to play with Naomi for a while longer." B'Elanna said, shining the light into her toolkit and pulling out a clamp. She stuck it on the leaking coolant tube and tightened it until the flow of blue liquid stopped. "We still have to rewire this conduit and the next three on this line."

"Surely you can-" Seven began to argue, her chest constricting as she imagined Mezoti's possible reactions. The little girl had gone a whole day without an episode. Was her burgeoning winning streak nearing its end?

"Look, Seven," B'Elanna cut her off. "We will work just as fast as we always do, and I'll let you go as soon as we are finished." She turned back to eye the ex-drone with a curious look. "You look like a smurf."

"What is a-?" Seven shook her head. "No matter. I told the children I would be back by the time they finished their holodeck program." Seven said tersely, settling back down beside B'Elanna and grabbing the toolkit to find the appropriate tool to rewire the conduit.

"Well, sometimes, crap happens." said B'Elanna. "I'm sure Samantha and Neelix won't mind."

"It is not Samantha Wildman and Neelix that I am worried about minding, Lieutenant."

 **XXX**

Samantha and Neelix walked the children back to Samantha's quarters when the holodeck program ended, herding the children down the hallway as they spoke together excitedly. The program had been a resounding success, ending in a tie between the girls and the boys down to the very last puzzle. Back in their quarters, the adults replicated the children a snack to enjoy while they waited for Seven to retrieve them. Naomi, Azan, Rebi, and Icheb dug in; Mezoti sat quiet and solemn on the couch.

"Zotti?" Icheb was the first to notice her, sullen and silent with her plate of uneaten fruit rested on her knees as her arms hugged her middle. She glanced up at him when he spoke her name, but quickly looked back down, letting her hair fall forward to hide her face. Icheb held in his grimace.

"What's the matter?" Naomi asked, looking first at the teenager and then to her best friend. "Zotti?"

"Is everything all right?" Samantha asked, having heard the children from the kitchenette. She and Neelix came to the livingroom together, sharing a concerned look over the obviously distressed little girl on the couch. "Mezoti, are you ill?"

"..No." murmured the eight year old, shaking her head.

"Hey, kids," Neelix began, putting on an especially chipper face as he took a seat on the end of the couch away from Mezoti. "I think we have just enough time before Seven comes for you to have one last story. What do you say?"

Azan and Rebi latched on immediately, scooting down to sit in front of the Talaxian on the carpet, their snack plates in their hands. "Yes, Neelix!" said Azan. "Tell us another!" said Rebi.

The smile on Neelix's face widened. He clapped his hands together before resting them on his knees. "Let's see... how about the one I used to tell Naomi before bed... Once upon a time, there was a gigantic field of hopsing lilies, and if you..."

Samantha took the more motherly approach, taking a seat directly beside Mezoti, and putting her arm around the small hunched shoulders. "What's the matter, Mezoti?" she asked gently, her free hand tucking the soft brown hair back behind Mezoti's ear. "Do you not like tika fruit?"

"I do." Mezoti mumbled. With a little puffing sigh, she held her plate out to Rebi on the floor in front of them. "But I do not have an appetite now." Her brother accepted the plate with a smile, stacking his empty one beneath it and continuing to eat while Neelix wove his tale.

"Would you prefer something else?" Samantha asked softly, drawing the little girl down against her side the way she would Naomi when something was obviously bothering her. When Mezoti shook her head, curled rigidly against her, Samantha continued. "Seven will be here any minute for you. Is that what is bothering you?" After a handful of seconds, Mezoti's head dipped once in confirmation. "She's only in engineering. She will be right back."

"But I need her." Mezoti whimpered. "Now."

 **XXX**

 ***** " _Icheb to Seven of Nine._ " *****

Seven touched her commbadge as she handed B'Elanna the smallest socket wrench. "Yes, Icheb?"

 ***** " _Mezoti is not dealing with your absence well, Seven._ " ***** Icheb's tone was uncertain- worried.

"Elaborate."

 ***** " _I felt better to contact you now before she has... another incident._ " *****

The blonde held back the wince she could feel trying to form. She took a deep breath before speaking. "Mezoti?"

The young Norcadian's voice was pitiful as she answered. ***** " _Seven, you said you would be back.. Why are you not back?_ " *****

"The repairs needed were more extensive than originally thought."

 ***** " _Can I come to you then?_ " *****

Seven glanced up at the console B'Elanna was rewiring by lantern light as it sparked, blue coolant gel dribbling down to pool across the Jeffries tube floor they sat on. "It is too dangerous for you where we are."

 ***** " _Dangerous?! Then come back!_ " *****

"I cannot come back until we have completed the repairs, Mezoti."

 ***** " _But-_ " *****

"Hand me the number four socket, Seven." B'Elanna said quietly, half-listening to the ex-drone beside her and half paying attention to her task. Since when did the Borglings worry about Seven being away from them? You'd think she was doing them a favor taking the blonde off their hands for an afternoon.

Seven settled the tool into the engineer's waiting hand as she replied to her youngest charge. "You must utilize your time in my absence to associate with Naomi and your brothers, and I will see you as soon as I have finished." Her hackles were rising- her own spike of anxiety at Mezoti's behavior and the forlorn sound of her little voice. She didn't miss the slight turn of B'Elanna's head at her comments, knowing the lieutenant was listening raptly now.

Finally, Mezoti replied in a soft murmur. ***** " _Okay, Seven.. I will wait for you. Just.. hurry, please._ " *****

"I'll will work as swiftly and efficiently as I am able, Sötnos."

 ***** " _Promise?_ " *****

" _..Jag lovar_ , älskling."

 ***** " _Tell Lieutenant Torres to please hurry, too, okay?_ " *****

A new spike of anxiety shot through Seven as she heard the woman beside her let out a soft snort. It never seemed to take much to set off B'Elanna- the half-Klingon's fuse short and ready to light up at even the barest hint of a spark.

But B'Elanna didn't get angry. Instead, she shook her head, glancing back at the blonde beside her with amused eyes and a smile Seven rarely was on the receiving end of. "Tell the squirt we'll hurry."

 **XXX**

 **Jag lovar. - I promise.**

 **Love it? Hate it? Tell me in a review!**

 **~LM**


	6. Chapter 6

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hello and welcome to chapter 6 of What We Need! This one took me forever to get out. Comes with a 40 hour work week, I suppose. What can ya do? Anyway, thanks so much to Scifiromance for putting up with me. (I promise I earn my keep.) Read, enjoy, review!**

 **~LM**

 **OBLIGATORY LEGALITIES: Yeah, I don't own them. Wish I could adopt them. *sigh***

 **XXX**

When B'Elanna and Seven entered the upper level of Engineering, the spectacle drew the gawking eyes of the majority of the engineers inside- if even for just a moment. The two women were covered head to toe in half-dried, blue coolant, their tool cases crusted over. Seven's hair was hanging in chunks out of her pins, the blonde turned blue where the coolant had sprayed over her. B'Elanna faired better with just the tips of her hair on one side being matted with the viscous jelly. As they carried their tool cases to the elevator, they didn't speak a word outside of a quiet 'excuse me' to get past Nicoletti.

As the elevator stopped at the bottom, B'Elanna was the first to step forward, holding her case out to a waiting ensign ready to take it and put it away for her. She glanced back at the blonde behind her. "Thanks for your help, Seven." she said sincerely if not a little brusquley.

The tall ex-drone nodded once, stepping off of the platform. "You are welc-"

"Seven!" A streak of brown wove around the ensign and B'Elanna and impacted with Seven's chest hard enough to make her stagger back a step. The toolkit in her hand went flying. It was only B'Elanna's quick reflexes that brought her hands up in time to block the silver case from hitting her in the face. Unfortunately, the latch caught as it hit, allowing the case to fly open. Several dozen little silver sockets and filaments glittered in the air like snowflakes as they scattered to the far corners of engineering.

"Hey!" B'Elanna barked out a protest, shoving the case at the startled ensign beside her so she could rub the soreness out of her hands.

Seven coughed, drawing air into winded lungs as she looked down at Mezoti's head leaned against her coolant-covered chest. "Me-" She covered her mouth to cough again, the other hand going behind the eight-year old's back. "-Zotti, you are not supposed to be in here."

Mezoti looked up into Seven's eyes, a smear of blue coolant now on her own face from Seven's biosuit. "But-but-you were gone too long." she said quietly.

"Kahless, we will never find all of those damn pieces again!" B'Elanna hissed, bending and picking up the socket at her feet.

"We saw it." Azan and Rebi scurried around a disapproving group of engineers, coming up to stand close to Seven's side. "We can get them."

"Seven, can't you control those children for five minutes?" the chief engineer seethed, bending and picking up another socket, tossing it at the ensign with the case. "I've told Naomi a dozen times- NO children in engineering!"

The blonde set her jaw. "As I have been in your company for the last two hours and twenty-five minutes, I fail to see how I can exert control over-"

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant." Icheb came up behind the twins, his face a scowl as he glared at Mezoti's back. "I was attempting to take the children back to the Cargo Bay, but Mezoti-"

Rebi's eyes widened, looking up into Seven's with a swift nod. "Mezoti overrode the turbolift controls!"

Azan nodded rather sagely. "She sent us to Main Engineering."

"Is this true?" Seven asked, looking down at the eight year old's sheepish face. "Mezoti?"

"I..." Mezoti's face fell as she looked down with a frown. "Yes, Seven."

Seven dropped her arm from Mezoti's back, turning the child around and nudging her towards where the sockets had been flung. "Go on." She reached out and took the case from the ensign and held it out to the little girl. "Every one."

"But-"

"Now, Mezoti."

"We'll help!" said Rebi, scurrying underneath the console beside them and picking up the tiny silver sockets beneath it. Azan nodded, following his example. Mezoti sighed, slipping around B'Elanna and the ensign to begin picking up the sockets that had flung farther away.

The chief engineer gawked for a second at the children now crawling through engineering before turning towards the blonde ex-drone. "Call them back! I can't have a bunch of kids underfoot in here! This is engineering- not a playground!"

Setting her jaw once more, Seven turned towards B'Elanna, standing to her full height. "We are well aware that this is not a playground, Lieutenant." She started to say more- something clipped and biting that she was sure would irritate B'Elanna just as much as she felt irritated right now- but stopped herself. Instead, she turned her attention to the three children carrying back handfuls of sockets. "Have you found them all?"

Mezoti nodded, holding her handfuls out to B'Elanna. "I found thirty-three."

Rebi put his handful on top of Mezoti's in the half-Klingon's hands. "Seventeen."

Azan settled his with the others. "I found twenty-two."

"Plus the three you picked up makes seventy-five." Seven said, taking Mezoti's hand. "Which is a complete set of sockets." Azan and Rebi moved to her free hand, Azan taking her wrist and Rebi her hand. She nodded to Icheb, watching him turn to leave before following him back towards the turbolift with her brood. "Good day, Liutenant."

 **XXX**

As they walked, Icheb lead, his strides long and purposed as usual. Mezoti held tight to Seven's hand, her smaller legs not quite as able to match Icheb's pace, and therefore holding Seven back as well. Azan had quickly released her wrist in favor of walking astride of Icheb while Rebi continued to flank Seven's side with his sister.

"Seven?" Mezoti said softly, turning her head to look up at Seven's face as they walked.

"Yes, Zotti?"

"I feel.. strange."

Seven came to an abrupt halt, her attention solely on the young girl. She frowned. "Elaborate."

Mezoti scrunched her nose, reaching up and rubbing her eyes with the sleeve of her green dress. "I feel.. lethargic?" She scowled. "As though I have missed my regeneration cycle, but I completed my required seven hours."

"Seven?" Icheb noticed he and Azan were marching alone once they reached the turbo lift at the end of the hallway. "Are you coming?"

"Perhaps we should pay a visit to the Doctor." Seven said softly. She cut off Mezoti's immediate refusal with a stern eyebrow and a cluck of her tongue. "The Doctor will not sedate you. I will not allow him."

"The Doctor isn't scary." Rebi said from her other side, taking in the fearful look in Mezoti's eyes. "He's only a hologram. You can turn him off. Like a lightbulb!"

The little girl's eyes found his, pausing the worrying of her lip with her teeth long enough to refute his claim. "Only superior officers can shut him off, Rebi."

The twin smirked. "Senior officers, Zotti. Only senior officers can shut him off. Anyway, Seven is a senior officer. She can shut him off for you."

"Children." Seven squeezed both their hands, gently urging them to walk along with her again. "The Doctor is a sentient being. He should not be shut off for no reason. How would you like to be shut off because someone is afraid of you?"

Rebi frowned as they entered the turbolift. "We would be shut off a lot then."

His expression was mirrored on Seven as she whipped her head around to look down at him in surprise. "What?"

"Nothing, Seven."

 **XXX**

The Doctor ran his tricorder one more pass over Mezoti's person before laying it down on the biobed beside where she sat. With gentle hands, he reached up to feel her lymph nodes for any swelling, and to check the dilation of her pupils with the pen light he brought into existence in his pocket. Mezoti sat patiently, if not a little fearfully, following his prompts to the letter as he checked her reflexes. He could find no sign of injury or illness. "I'm giving you a clean bill of health, Mezoti." he said with a smile. "Just like the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that."

"Why do I feel so strangely?" asked the girl, looking worriedly at Seven standing behind the biobed.

"I think you're just tired." answered the Doctor.

"But she regenerated for the required seven hours this morning." argued Seven.

The Doctor smiled. "Oh, I'm sure she regenerated just like she was supposed to." he began, turning and placing the tricorder on the tray of tools he had wheeled beside the biobed. "But she is only eight years old."

"Do I need to regenerate for eight hours then?" asked Mezoti.

"You're regenerating optimally, Mezoti." said the Doctor. He turned to Seven, taking in the concerned look she was giving the child. She certainly had come a long way from the distrusting newly ex-drone of two years ago, hadn't she? "The longer that the children are separated from the Collective, their bodies begin to reassert their dominance over the Borg technology that has... dampened their bodily functions for so long." he explained. "Now that her body is no longer solely served by her alcove, she and the other children are beginning to require more."

"More?" Seven prompted.

"This child needs a nap." The Doctor chuckled, reaching out and patting Mezoti's knee. "The longer she's out of the Collective, the closer she is going to start acting, feeling, and growing like her biological age indicates. It's just like eating- she needed to ingest solid and liquid nutrients to power her body alongside regeneration. Now, she needs sleep to recharge her mind."

"But I have never required sleep." Seven raised an eyebrow.

"But you are capable of sleep, Seven. If you would sleep, you could regenerate for four hours instead of six."

"Sleeping is inefficient."

He smiled a little indulgently. "None-the-less, Mezoti now requires... oh, I would say at least two to four hours of sleep a day. I would assume that Azan and Rebi, being only ten, will also soon require at least some amount of sleep daily."

"Us, too?" asked Azan, wide-eyed. Rebi gave him a worried look. "Nap?"

"How does one nap?" asked Mezoti, curling her legs under her on the biobed, her posture no longer as rigid as it had been.

"As I am unable to sleep myself, I can only guess, but I believe it is as simple as laying down-" The Doctor looked off with a wistful smile," "-closing one's eyes, and perhaps counting a few sheep." answered the Doctor.

Rebi's eyebrows lifted. "Sheep?" His head whipped around to meet his brother's pensive gaze. "Where are we going to find sheep?"

"You cannot replicate living things!" said Azan, stepping closer to his brother.

"Not literal sheep." the Doctor chuckled. "Imaginary sheep. It is an old Earth custom, I believe."

"Where will they sleep?" Seven asked with a frown. "We do not have beds in the Cargo Bay."

"I can submit a requisition form to Chakotay for you, requesting four simple sleep cots." offered the Doctor.

Icheb looked up from the PADD he was studying as he leaned against the far wall. "Four? Why four?"

"Well, the last time I checked, there were four ex-Borg children running around this ship." The Doctor smiled. "Count yourself lucky. Do you know how many crewmembers would kill for me to prescribe them to sleep?"

"But sleeping is ineff-"

"Yes, yes, but also quite required, I'm afraid."

Icheb turned an idignant eye to his foster mother. "Seven?"

The blonde offered him no respite. "If the Doctor says you require the additional benefits of sleep, then you must attempt sleep."

"I'll go ahead and send in that requisition request now, and you can go meet with Chakotay to iron out the details. As for you, young lady.." The Doctor gestured to Mezoti, "If you would like to take your first nap in sickbay, I suppose I can loan you out a bed." Mezoti stared up at him with wide, uncertain eyes before shaking her head and turning around on the biobed to face Seven. He tried to hide his surprise when Seven let the little girl pull her up against the biobed and lean onto her. "Well, any soft, quiet, dim place should work."

"We will manage until.." Seven started, lifting Mezoti onto her hip. The little girl clutched her shoulders, anxious. "Until we find an alternative." She almost wouldn't believe the Doctor's diagnosis- Borg? Sleepy? But then, quietly against her shoulder, Mezoti let out a tiny mewling yawn. Seven had seen enough humans engage in that particular reflex to know what it meant. So the Doctor was right, and again, she was deficient. If she had quarters she would at least have had a bed by now- or a couch if nothing else.

"There isn't much of an alternative unless you plan to put the children to bed on the metal grating of their alcoves, Seven." said the EMH, turning to log the visit in the computer. "I'll contact Chakotay for you if you cannot-"

"That will not be necessary." Seven hissed, reaching between her chest and Mezoti's for her comm badge. "Seven of Nine to Commander Chakotay." Leaned against her chest, Mezoti winced at the metallic churrup in her ear.

 ***** _"Go ahead, Seven."_ ***** Chakotay's voice was clear and smooth across the com. ***** _"What can I do for you?"_ *****

"I must meet with you to discuss a requisition that the Doctor is filing on the children's behalf."

 ***** _"I am not on bridge duty right now. Can you meet me in my office?"_ *****

"I will be there imminently. Seven, out." Seven looked down at the drowzy child using her shoulder as a pillow. "Come along, children."

"I will return to the Cargo Bay and study my lessons." Icheb said from across the room, his expression stubborn. He wanted no part in all this bedtime business.

"Us, too." said Azan, pulling his twin towards their older sibling. "Come on, Rebi."

"That is acceptable." said the blonde, adjusting Mezoti more securely against her as the little girl's arms tightened around her shoulders.

"I want to.." Rebi hesitated, pulling back from Azan's grip. "Go with Seven." He gave his brother a sheepish smile. "I'll catch up later?"

Azan looked utterly betrayed for all of two heartbeats before nodding. "Oh. Okay." He turned awkwardly towards Icheb. "See you later, Rebi.." The other twin nodded, taking his place at Seven's side, following her and Mezoti out of the room.

 **XXX**

When the chime rang for the door, Chakotay put the report in his hands on the stack of PADDs on the desk in front of him before looking up with a tired, "Come in." He perked up visibly when Seven entered his office with Mezoti and Rebi. It didn't totally miss his attention that just their presence was enough to put a pleasant expression on his face, but he chose to ignore it for now. "Hello, Seven. Mezoti, Rebi."

The little boy gave him a small smile and nod before crossing the room to the couch, crawling onto it on his knees to examine the large dreamcatcher on the wall behind it closely. "Hello, Commander." he said absently, reaching up and petting a long, sable, hawk feather.

"Commander." Seven said by way of greeting, moving to set Mezoti down on her own two feet. Instead of standing, the little girl fell slack, her head lolling back and arms coming free from around Seven's neck to dangle by her sides. "Mezoti?" The blonde quickly adjusted her grip, settling the eight year old awkwardly in the crook of one arm. "Zotti?"

"She fall asleep?" Chakotay asked, standing up and rounding his desk. He couldn't help the wide grin that came over his face at the sight. Relaxed, the smallest Borgling was almost angelic- her sweet face belying her normally mischievous nature. If only she were always this sweet. "Well, would ya look at that.."

Held precariously, Mezoti began to rouse. A tired frown pulled over her face as she fluttered her eyes open. "Cha.. kotay?" she mumbled in confusion, focusing on his face. After a second or two, her eyes closed again. She wound one arm back up over Seven's shoulder, turning her face back towards Seven's body.

"Batteries finally ran out." Chakotay chuckled. His eyes moved back to Seven's. The blonde looked worried, clutching her hands over Mezoti to keep from dropping the little girl. Carrying her while she could hold on and sit upright wasn't nearly as difficult as carrying her when she was a warm bit of sleeping dead weight. "Here." He quickly directed Seven to the couch, gently snatching Rebi up off of it and standing him to the side. "Excuse me, Rebi." The little boy only giggled, watching his professor put a throw pillow on the end of the couch and pull the patterned blanket from its back.

It only took Seven a moment to realize that Chakotay was setting up the couch for her to lay Mezoti on. Internally, she sighed in relief at the chance to lay the little girl down, watching Chakotay settle her in. With gentle care, he pulled away her black maryjane shoes, and tucked the blanket around Mezoti's small frame. Rebi came to Seven's side as soon as she was free, tucking himself against her arm.

With Mezoti tucked in on the couch, Chakotay finally turned back to Seven. "So, what can I do for you, Seven?"

The ex-drone nearly startled out of her thoughts, her attention fully on the Commander again. "The.. Doctor put in a requisition form for the children." she answered. "For beds."

Chakotay chuckled, glancing down at Mezoti again before rounding his desk and taking his seat. "I can see why." He scooted the console to the side of his desk where he could see it and pulled up the Doctor's req. "Four child-sized beds for the cargo bay."

"Yes, and-" Seven cut herself off before she could spill all the other improvements to the bay she had been thinking off since she had researched it two nights before. The children would benefit from the things she had in mind, but would the Commander be receptive to her ideas? She had more than enough of her own rations to cover what she wanted done, but would she be allowed to cash them in for this? Would she be allowed to convert their little portion of the bay to suit their needs? Her bravery wavered. "Yes.. four beds."

"Okay, four standard issue beds." said Chakotay, inputting the commands. He paused, frowning at the screen. "I'm afraid we have rerouted power away from the replicators on deck 10 to boost power to-"

Nerves winning out, Seven nodded, cutting him off. "Yes, of course. I apologize for the timing of our reque-"

With a frown, Chakotay waved her apology off. "You can't help when the kids need something, Seven. Anyone could have needed the utility replicators today." He input another series of commands. "The earliest I can have engineering get them back up and running would be tomorrow morning. Will that work for you?"

Beside her, Rebi let out a quiet yawn. Seven chewed her bottom lip before giving a stiff nod. "Yes, Commander." Perhaps if she had the children regenerate for the four hours today instead of sleeping, they would be alright until the morning? "We will manage."

"The Doctor said Mezoti could nap in sickbay." Rebi said softly. "I like the Doctor, but.. I don't think I would want to sleep there."

Seven hadn't been the only one to catch Rebi's yawn. Chakotay turned his attention to the boy. "Would you like to lay down with Mezoti for a little while? _¿Tienes sueño?_ "

" _Yo..._ " Rebi yawned again. " _Sí._ "

"We shouldn't impose." Seven said quietly, unsure, glancing between the two children.

"Ah, you're not imposing." Chakotay waved her worry off. "If the boy is tired, let him sleep. There's enough room for them both on that couch." He directed his smile to Rebi. "And it's a pretty comfortable couch- I've spent a few nights on it myself."

Seven frowned. "I have work to-"

"Then download it onto a PADD and work." Chakotay cut her off with an amused snort. "I promise I'll be quiet."

"No, I'm-"

"You can use my console. All my reports are already on PADDs." When Seven continued to look unsure, her lip tucked between her teeth and a slight frown on her face, he continued. "Come on.. It's quiet in here. We can dim the lights and let them nap for a little while." He rolled his eyes. "It's better than sickbay."

"...very well." Seven said over a sigh. Quickly, she added, "For a little while."

"See? That wasn't that hard." Chakotay stood from his chair and rounded his desk. "Come on, Rebi." The little boy was gently directed to lay on the other end of the couch. "Here you go- take off your shoes... now put your feet by Zotti's shoulders." Once Rebi was laid out, Chakotay pulled the blanket from Mezoti's frame and used it to cover both children. "There you go."

Rebi gazed up at his professor uncertainly. "Now what?" He turned his head to see Seven standing pensively behind Chakotay. "I don't know how to sleep. I don't remember how to sleep."

"Oh, it's easy." Chakotay said, giving Seven a chance to step in. One glance back and he could tell she was out of her depth. Of course- she hadn't slept herself since.. did she sleep? He caught the frown pulling over his face before it could manifest, and reached down to tuck Rebi in tight like his own father had done to him as a small boy. "You just close your eyes.. and relax.." Standing back to his full height, he briefly glanced at the ceiling. "Computer, lights at fifty-five percent brightness. Now, just relax.." An affectionate smile pulled at his dimples as he watched the little boy try to follow his directions. "Let your body fall slack. And then you make up a little story in your head."

Rebi's eyes popped open. "Story? What kind of story?"

"Close you eyes, Rebi.. Any kind of story."

"Like Captain Proton stories?"

The Commander chuckled. "Sure. Have you been playing Captain Proton on the holodeck?"

"No, but Azan and I have read the comics.."

Seven raised her eyebrows. "Comics?"

"Tom made comics?" Chakotay glanced back at her, amused. "That figures."

Rebi nodded, turning and snuggling in to the throw pillow under his head. "Yeah.. they're great.." he murmured sleepily. "This time.. I'll get to be Proton.. and Azan.. he can be.. the.. side-.. kick.." With one last wiggle and a little sigh, Rebi slipped into the first sleep he'd had since becoming Borg.

 **XXX**

"So, how are things going?"

Seven grit her teeth in annoyance, pausing to take a deep breath before she answered. "Fine."

The curtness of her reply was enough to urge him to look up from his PADD. Her brows were drawn, lips pursed. It had been an hour since she had made a noise across from him. "You still mad at me?"

Caught out, her eyes flicked up to meet his. _Yes._ "No."

He set the PADD down on the table with a soft click. "You're lying to lie to me. I can see you are angry."

Her words left her mouth in a mad rush. " _I AM NOT-_ " She caught herself before she could wake the children, sparing them a glance behind her before turning back to the Commander. "I am not angry."

"You don't have to lie about it, Seven." He returned. "I get it. It was an invasion of pri-"

"It is no matter!"

"-vacy and I'm sorry." He continued over her, his eyes riveted to hers. "Really. I am."

For a moment, she thought to deny it again- sweep it all under the rug- out of sight, out of mind- bury the confusing human feelings before it all becomes too real. Finally, she shook her head, relaxing back into her seat for the first time since she had sat down. She repeated herself with far less conviction. "It is no matter."

"It matters." Chakotay affirmed. "Your feelings matter, too. I know the Doctor and the Captain seem to run a bit roughshod over-"

"Really, Commander, they-"

"-it sometimes. The Doctor is a bit of a blowhard. Really, Kathryn can be, too."

"I owe the Doctor and the Captain a-"

"But what I did was really a misuse of.. I mean, I'm not sorry I know about the children, but I'm sorry for how I went about finding out." He glanced over at the two sleeping on the couch, a touch of sympathy in his eyes. "I thought they would have an easier time of it than you had." His eyes flit back to hers. "Physically, I mean." He smiled sheepishly. "I mean, having been Borg for a shorter time period and..." He looked back down to his PADDs as she rose an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, sorry- I'll shut up."

She almost sighed in relief, looking down at her borrowed console. She didn't like the way she felt knowing he knew how damaged they were- how damaged _she_ was. It was just another chink in the already battered Borg armor she refused to shed, but the blow that caused it had landed closer to her heart than she'd have liked. There was no controlling the movement of her eyes as they turned from the console up to map over Chakotay's face instead. He sat hunched in his chair, a frown on his face as he scrolled through the PADD in his hands. If it had been anyone else, there would be no doubt in her mind that the information procured would be used against her, but Chakotay? His concern over herself and the children had been a noted recurring instance- as mind-boggling as that was. He wouldn't use this information against her like B'Elanna or Tom or the Doctor or.. the Captain. "...Chakotay?" The blonde nearly startled at her own voice piercing the quiet.

"Hmm?"

"I.. you are forgiven." She said softly. "I apologize for my outburst."

"Ah, no worries."

An awkward silence fell over them, neither one sure where to take the conversation to next. He was sure that she didn't want him to ask any more about the children or their medical needs. She was sure that she didn't want to answer him if he did.

Chakotay was the first to break eye contact, quickly lifting another PADD with another systems report and skimming over it. He paused once only to glance up at Seven, but she had just as quickly returned to the console, her fingers dancing over the keys. The brief connection was gone. For a second, he had thought she would have said more. For second, he had wanted her to say more. With a touch of disappointment, he focused on his PADD.

Seven quickly fell back into her work, managing to clear her mind and focus on the equations she was going over on the console's screen. Jenny and Megan and even Icheb had done so much for her this past week that she felt behind. She was determined to not require either Delaney to write another report for her, though she was still deeply grateful to Megan especially for having done so. If she got nothing else out of her recent experience in regards to Astrometrics, at least now she knew how capable her team was.

 **XXX**

There was something holding her down, pressed tightly in on all sides, tucked around her entire form from the neck down. Trying to move her arm was like trying to wade through oatmeal- her limbs heavy and not totally under her control. Was she back in sickbay again? Had the Doctor done this to her? Why was she restrained? Wriggling as much as she could, she struggled to open her eyes, open her mouth to call out for- "Seven!" Her voice was hoarse and thick, but the sound was enough to further rouse her until she could open her eyes. "Seven?" Her arm finally obeyed her command, moving up along her belly and chest to the top edge of the blanket and then yanking it down away from her neck. "Sev-"

"I'm right here, Mezoti."

Mezoti's eyes blinked open, her vision taking a second to clear before she was looking up into her blonde guardian's face. Seven leaned down, gently pulling the blanket the rest of the way down Mezoti's torso. When the little girl tried to lean up, she was pulled to sit. Her face turned up to Seven's again as a warm hand was cupped under her chin.

"Are you damaged?" Seven asked, blue eyes raking over the little girl for any sign of what may have caused her distress.

"I.. I thought I was in sickbay." Mezoti mumbled, her speech slightly impaired by the hand holding her chin. "Did I.. did I achieve sleep?"

"You did." Chakotay said, stepping up next to Seven. "How was your first nap?"

"It was.." The smallest Borgling searched a foggy mind for the right words to succinctly express her experience, and coming up short. "..okay?"

Beside her, Rebi let out a little groan, stretching his whole body out ramrod straight before going slack again. His eyes fluttered as he turned his head towards the noises that had awoken him. "Did we.." He paused to yawn. "Sleep?"

"Sure did." said Chakotay, taking up the blanket and folding it over his arm. "Like a couple of bumps on a log."

Rebi frowned. "But.. logs don't sleep."

"I suppose that bumps on them do?" Mezoti said as Seven let her chin go. "Are the bumps.. amphibious?"

The boy smiled. "Like frogs? Like Paco in the classroom?"

"Seven, this is not at all like emerging from my alcove." murmured the little girl, crawling over Rebi's legs and standing on her own two feet. "When you wake up, you feel impaired."

"Don't worry about it." Chakotay pat Mezoti's back. "You will get used to it, and it won't feel so disorienting."

Seven helped Rebi to stand next, gently brushing him off and straightening the hair on his head that was now sticking out at odd angles. Sufficiently groomed, she directed the children to put on their shoes again.

"So tomorrow, when we get the replicators up and running, I'll contact you." Chakotay said, back to business. "I've already sent the order down to engineering. We can have them all beds before naptime tomorrow, okay?"

Seven nodded. "Thank you, Commander." She nudged her two charges. "Children, thank the Commander for allowing you to nap on his couch."

"Thank you, Commander." chorused the two.

"Que nada." Chakotay said with a grin.

 **XXX**

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 **~LM**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Notes: Welcome to Chapter 7! This chapter is necessary filler to set a precedent. Thanks as always to Starshine15 and Scifiromance for all their attention and distraction, and thank you for letting me tell you a story!**

 **Read, enjoy, review!**

 **~LM**

 **Obligatory Legalities: Don't own them. Never will. Fun times.**

 **XXX**

 _January 23_

 **XXX**

" _And then our little ovum floats down, down, down..._ " The Doctor's voice came over the small console placed on the Astrometric's platform for the three youngest Borglings. Mezoti lay between Rebi and Azan, the three of them on their bellies with their PADDs in front of them as they boredly took notes. " _...the Fallopian tubes until it reaches the..._ " The Doctor on the small screen gestured for the children to fill in the vocabulary word. " _Come on, children. The little ovum floats down the Fallopian tube into the- what?_ "

"Womb." Rebi said boredly, resting his cheek in his hand. He glanced at Icheb who was being allowed to skip the lesson in favor of mapping a nearby bit of space. The teenager smirked at the three younger children, glad he didn't have to participate in another biology lesson.

" _Yes, Rebi, the womb._ " said the Doctor. " _But the medical term is-?_ "

"Uterus." Azan murmured, picking at a bit of dirt under his fingernail. "In humans and most humanoid species."

Mezoti nodded. "Some species have a reproductive bladder or a sort of-"

" _Well, yes, but we are learning about the reproductive cycle of Alpha Quadrant humanoids._ " said the Doctor. " _If you would like to expand our lessons then I'm sure I could find another few lecture's worth of information for-_ "

Azan snapped to attention. "Oh, no-no, Doctor. This is most fascinating." He nudged Mezoti beside him. "Isn't is, Zotti?"

The youngest nodded, faking a smile. "Oh yes, Doctor. Please continue."

Rebi didn't catch their meaning. "Do we have to? We know where humanoid babies come from. And even if we didn't, Icheb has looked it up on the-"

"Hey!" Icheb cut the boy off, glancing at Seven before giving his younger sibling a warning look. "Watch it."

Seven looked up from her console to see the teenager standing beside her fully. His cheeks flushed as he looked back down, avoiding her gaze. Well, it wasn't as though the information wasn't at his fingertips.. and she'd certainly had a few interesting database searches herself. With a roll of her eyes, she returned her attention to her work without comment. On the other side of Icheb, Jenny pursed her lips to keep from smirking, but also held in any opinion.

The Doctor continued his lecture. " _And now our tiny little ovum is down to the end of the Fallopian tube and floating down to the womb hoping to meet up with a fiesty little sp-_ "

"Doctor, perhaps this is a lecture better listened to in person." Seven said, gently cutting the Doctor off. "I think the children would better benefit from a study of genetic sequencing-"

The Doctor's face appeared on the main screen as he leaned in, a frown pulling his brows together over a nose as big as one of the twins. " _Sperm and ovum are the stepping stones of genetics, Seven. All of the genetic material that makes you 'you' is held in the chromosomes passed on to you via your mother's egg and your father's-_ "

"Be that as it may," Seven cut him off again, cutting off the three youngest from a round of giggles with a stern look. "The children are already familiar with this material."

On the screen, the Doctor sighed, stepping back. " _Very well._ " He paced across the floor of sickbay, arms crossed and a finger to his lips. " _Perhaps we could learn about the genetic differences between the Vulcans and the Romulans._ " He stopped pacing, turning to the camera on his console and clapping his hands once. " _Alright, children, scroll to page seven hundred and forty-three._ "

Behind them, the doors to Astrometrics slid open. Chakotay walked in with his usual confident step, a PADD in his hand swinging easily in time with his movements. He smiled as he approached the center console. "Hello." he greeted, nodding to Jenny and the children before focusing on Seven. "B'Elanna is getting the replicators up and running right now, Seven. Are you ready?"

When he held he PADD out to her, Seven took it from his hand and read the information pulled up on the screen. "The requisitions." She looked back up to him and nodded.

"Good." he said. "Let's go."

"Children," she said over her shoulder. "Finish your lessons with the Doctor. I will be back imminently."

"Seven?" Mezoti propped herself up higher than Azan beside her to see over his head.

"I will be right back, Mezoti." said the blonde, quickly letting Chakotay lead her out into the hall before she could be followed.

 **XXX**

In the shuttlebay, B'Elanna looked up from the large replicator screen she had just coaxed back to life. Chakotay had asked for her to personally reboot the utility replicators, but he hadn't told her what he wanted to do with them, so it was a bit of a surprise to see him walk in with Seven of Nine keeping stride beside him. Briefly she wondered what the Borg children had broken to warrant Chakotay himself having to replicate it. If not for the overhaul her team was pulling in Engineering without her, she'd have stayed to try and subtly investigate, but as it was, she was needed elsewhere. ' _Oh well- there's always lunchtime._ '

"All set up?" Chakotay asked as they approached, his easy grin on his face.

The half-Klingon nodded, tucking her small toolcase under her arm before dusting off her hands. "And ready to go." she answered. "Treat her gentle."

Chakotay chuckled with a nod. "We will."

"So long as you treat her better than all those shuttles-" B'Elanna clapped the Commander's shoulder as she stepped past him.

"Oh, come on." he laughed, watching her head for the door at the far end of the bay. "You crash one shuttle, and nobody ever lets you live it down!"

B'Elanna spun back with an answering snort, walking backwards long enough to roll her eyes and say, "If only it were just one shuttle to live down, _Jefe_." She turned back in time to walk out the door. "See ya later."

Seven was the first to approach the large screen, but deferred to Chakotay at the last minute, unsure of just exactly what she needed. With more ease, Chakotay activated the screen, scrolling down through the options until he reached the furniture.

"Okay.. we need four little kiddie beds.." Chakotay murmured, perusing the thumbnail pictures on the screen. "They have a heck of a lot of options on here. Anything in particular you have in mind?"

When he glanced at her for her opinion, she briefly floundered, eyes widened and lips pursed. "I.. I am unsure." she finally spoke, turning bodily to the screen as a dozen styles of beds scrolled by. "..I think that standard issue would suffice."

Chakotay drew his brows, scrolling back to the top. "Standard issue, it is, then." He punched in the order and pulled up more options. "Though.." he murmured. "These are nice, but why don't we look at something a little more.. comfortable?"

"Comfort is-" Seven stopped herself mid-thought, taking a deep breath and blowing it out of her mouth before she took a step back. She gestured to the screen, conceding. "Please?"

He smiled, pulling up another row of standard issue beds but with more comfortable mattresses. Finally, he pointed at one. "Here- the legs retract so these can fold down flat, and the mattresses are light enough to be stacked out of the way so they can save on space." When he glanced at her for confirmation, she nodded. "Okay, then." Within a few seconds, lined up behind them were four simple but comfortable beds with their thin mattresses stacked beside them. "Now we just need some bedding."

"Standard iss-"

A warm hand on her arm gently cut the blonde off. Chakotay gave her an amused look. "I know standard issue is fine.. but I think we should look at the other options as well. Naomi Wildman doesn't even have standard issue bedding."

"Very well."

Sure that she had agreed, he looked back at the screen. Part of him was acutely aware of how unsure she was- like she expected him to be angry at the time she was taking. He could practically feel her fight or flight instinct swirling in the air around him. Shaking the thought from his head, he pointed to a thumbnail, bringing it up on the screen. "Here you go. This one is Azan."

Seven stepped back up beside him to see. A half smile quirked at her lips. One the screen was a light blue bedding set printed with sports equipment- basketballs, soccer balls, velocity spheres, hoverballs, Vulcan spinning disks, and Bajoran rackets. The blonde nodded her head. "I would have to agree." she said. "Azan is quite fond of sports."

"Alright- sports for Azan." Chakotay said under his breath, ordering the items. "Now, what about Rebi?"

"Rebi enjoys learning about engineering." Seven said quietly. "How warp cores power ships and shuttles."

"Shuttles, hmm?" Chakotay quickly picked a set similar to Azan's in red with Starfleet shuttles and com badges printed across the sheets and blanket. "Done. What about Miss Zotti?"

Her smile widened. "Something colourful and bright." Her eyes ran over the children's options until they landed on a pink set with hearts and rainbows. "This." she said, reaching out and selecting it. "And something green for Icheb. He is partial to the color."

Pleased that he had partially broken through her shell, he scrolled down to the more plain options. "How about this one, then?" he asked, pointing at a simple hunter green set with black helixes. "It's grown up enough for him, isn't it? Good?"

Seven nodded. "Yes. These will be most sufficient."

At her assessment, he grinned. "Computer, relocate the four beds and their mattresses and bedding to Cargo Bay 2." When the beds began to dematerialize, he gestured for her to turn to leave ahead of him. "I'll help you get the beds moved around where you want them. You can have the kids down for a nap before too long."

"I appreciate your assistance." Seven said gratefully. She began to turn, but stopped herself at the last second. Her smile turned into a worried frown as her hands came up over her belly to wring together. "Cha-.. wait."

"Yes?"

"I.." Forcing her hands back to her sides, she took in a bolstering breath. As she blew it out of her nose, she met the Commander's eyes. "I have done some research."

"Research? What kind of research?"

"On child development."

His brows drew down, remembering her last big dive into child development. "You're not pulling out the minute by minute planner again, are you?"

"No." she said quickly, shaking her head once. "No, I was looking up something to help Mezoti with her.. episodes, and I had a few ideas. But.. I would need clearance to execute them."

"What did you have in mind?"

"I wondered if I could lay claim to the back corner of Cargo Bay 2?"

"Lay claim?" He chuckled. "You kind of already have, Seven. What do you mean?"

"I mean." Her hands wrung again in front of her belly before she stilled them. "To make it theirs. For the children."

"Go on."

The breath she drew in felt shallow. "The children are Borg. Like myself, they will likely always be at least partially reliant on an alcove, so our presence in the bay is.. required." she said, trying to keep her voice steady and strong. "It would be difficult to place an alcove into typical quarters- and quarters are tight already- and everyone is settled into the spaces already allotted to them- and I have never had any objection to- to- to being where I.." Internally she cringed at her own inability to properly express herself as her eyes locked with his in hopes that he would save her from drowning.

Chakotay nodded once, his expression thoughtful at the distress he could recognize bubbling under the surface of hers. "No, you've never objected- at least not to me. But it is a little unfortunate where you have had to end up, Seven."

"I do not feel unfortunate, Chak- Commander. I am satisfied with.. but the children.."

His eyebrows raised as it clicked. "You don't want the children to..?"

"I don't want them to feel deficient. _Less_." She could see the cogs spinning in his head now, and felt foolish for bringing it up in the first place. Who was she to ask anything from anyone when she was in debt to the Captain up to her cortical array? Still, now that the ball was rolling, she didn't have the means to stop it. "The children have seen that Naomi Wildman has a space of her own- a room where she can engage in play and store her things. A home. All the children have is a row of alcoves and several rows of storage barrels and crates.. and the toys that Samantha Wildman was kind enough to give them from the things that Naomi no longer played with."

Chakotay felt his stomach sink. How much time did he spend a week with those kids teaching them their lessons compared to how much time he spent worrying about the rest of their well-being? Did the children feel like they were lacking something while being on Voyager? How was their life down in the Cargo Bay? He swallowed. "You're right." he said firmly. "They may have _been_ Borg once, but they are still children."

Seven nodded once. "I do not have quarters of my own for them," she said, dropping her eyes from him to glance at the space where the beds had been. "But.. there is a space in the back of the bay that has remained unused since my arrival on Voyager.. and I could perhaps give the children some semblance of normalcy.. there."

"Alright." agreed Chakotay. "What's the plan?"

The blonde in front of him nearly dropped her mouth in shock at his easy acceptance. She had expected at least a little refusal at her request to expand their living area. Perhaps it was not as illogical as she had first thought. Smiling instead, she began to tell him her plan.

 **XXX**

"Alright, children." Chakotay called, stepping into Astrometrics twenty minutes later. "Nap time! Seven is waiting for you in the cargo bay."

Rebi sat up straight, his eyes wide and smile excited. "Will we dream again, Chakotay?"

Azan, who had heard all about Rebi's experience, raised his eyebrows. "About Captain Proton?"

Chakotay chuckled as the twins were the first to reach him. Mezoti had followed silently with a yawn behind one hand. Icheb stood resolutely beside the main console, his face a grimaced scowl. "Come on Icheb."

"I do not require these naps." Icheb groused. "I am not a small child."

"I'm not small!" Azan argued.

"You're not a grown-up, Icheb." said Mezoti with a snort. "Even by Brunali custom, you are several cycles from becoming mature."

"Nobody said you were a small child, Icheb." Chakotay said patiently. "But the Doctor thinks you should sleep, so you're going to have to give it the indian scout try. Come on, son." He gestured for the teenager to join them, smirking in amusement at the roll of the eyes that came before the taller boy would move to join them. _You can take the teenager out of the Borg.._

"I do not see how this is necessary." Icheb continued as they walked the short distance to the cargo bay. "Seven does not sleep."

"Well, Seven was Borg quite a bit longer than you were." said the Commander, letting Mezoti lace her fingers through his as they went. "Perhaps her physiology is just different from yours." He clapped the teen's shoulder with his free hand. "There's nothing to worry about, Icheb. It's just a nap. I wish I could take a nap every day."

"You're welcome to trade me places, Commander." said the teen. "I won't tell if you won't."

"Rebi said we could dream." Azan sprinted ahead. "I'm going to be Captain Proton!"

Rebi gave chase. "Not if I am first!" His twin gave an excited squeal as they raced down the corridor.

"Will you be staying with us, Chakotay?" asked Mezoti, content to walk at the Commander's more sedate pace. "Like yesterday?"

"I think you stayed with me yesterday." he returned as they reached the cargo bay doors.

Inside, Seven was handing a blue and a red bundle to the twins. Azan and Rebi unfolded the simple sleeping clothes, holding them up to see. In her arms, she held a green and pink bundle as well. When Mezoti hurried to her side, she was given the pink one. "You may change in the bathrooms, children." said Seven, holding the green bundle out for Icheb.

Icheb looked at the pajamas with an expression akin to disgust. "Must I change my clothing? Is my time not better spent doing my lessons or assisting you in Astrometrics?"

Seven gave him a more stern look than she had the others, forcing the clothes into his hands. "You will change your clothing with the others and report back here in five minutes for your afternoon sleeping cycle." She gestured for him to follow the other three as they headed to the bathrooms across the hall. " _Now_ , Icheb."

The teenager scowled again, an irritated huff blowing out his nose as he stomped off after the others. Chakotay snickered once the boy was securely in the men's room, coming to stand beside a bewildered Seven. "And you thought Mezoti was your problem child."

The ex-drone shook her head. "Mezoti is a child; she is not a problem." She breathed a little sigh. "Icheb is opposed to being included with the younger three. He wants to be seen as separate. Apart. Individual."

"Ah, that's teenagers for you. Too big to really get down and play anymore, too young to do much else. It's frustrating. Especially on a starship like this where he's the only one."

"Unfortunately, outside of cloning him, there's nothing I can do to solve that."

Smirking in amusement at her attempt at humor, Chakotay crossed his arms and leaned back against the console. "Well, let's not do anything drastic." His smirk deepened at the amused snort from his blonde companion.

The children returning cut off any further conversation between the two. The twins in their exuberance ran into the bay barefooted, stopping short in front of their guardian for her to inspect their clothes. After she straightened their pajamas, she directed them to the little line of beds across from the alcoves.

"Shuttles!" Rebi hissed in awe as he found his bed. He picked up the blanket and held it out unfolded. "Birds of prey and Type 9s! Look, Azan- it's a B'rel!"

Azan had found his own blanket and spread it out over his bed, crawling on it and examining the various images upon it. "I wish we were old enough to play Velocity, Rebi."

"Do I get a special blanket, Seven?" Mezoti asked quietly, stopping to take Seven's hand instead of continue down to where the twins were already laid back and talking excitedly about what dreams they would have while asleep. Her other hand bunched into the soft fabric of her pink flannel nightgown.

"Of course you do." answered Seven, leading the little girl to the first bed. She lifted the pink and rainbow blanket and shook it out before putting it around Mezoti's shoulders like a cape. The young girl snuggled into it with a smile before turning and bouncing up onto the bed.

Reluctantly, Icheb sidled up to the green bed in his green pajama bottoms and his white tshirt. He lifted the blanket and then turned to Seven for instruction.

Seeing his intent, Rebi chuckled. "Just lay down, Icheb." He laid out flat, his head on his pillow, and pulled his blanket over his body. "Like this." Beside him, Azan and followed his lead.

Seven tucked Mezoti's blanket around her body the way that she had observed Chakotay doing the day before. Blanket secured, she gently tucked the hair behind the girl's ears. "Close your eyes." She moved on to Azan's bed, tucking him beneath his blanket the same way.

"Think good thoughts." Chakotay instructed, watching Seven tuck Rebi in and tousle his hair with a grin.

"That's difficult at the moment." Icheb muttered. Before Seven could tuck him in, he quickly rolled side to side beneath his blanket, tucking himself. "Now what?"

Rebi rolled his eyes, turning his head to the side to see the oldest boy through one eye. "Now you close your eyes and relax all your muscles."

"But.." Azan wriggled in his bed. "If I relax all my muscles.." Azan's eyes widened as he burst out of his blanket and made a beeline for the door. "Be right back!"

"Azan?" Seven called after him.

"He's gotta go to the bathroom." Rebi said. Mezoti giggled, turning on her side and getting comfortable. Rebi shared her amusement.

"Computer, lights at fifty-five percent of normal." Seven commanded, shaking her head.

"Why must it be dark?" asked the teenager, laying stiffly on his sleeping surface.

"Are you afraid of the dark?" asked Mezoti.

Icheb gave her an acidic look. "Of course not!"

"The lights are dimmed to help you rest, Icheb." Chakotay said, walking to the line of beds. "To help you relax."

When Azan sprinted back in the room, Seven re-tucked him into his bed. "Does anyone else need to visit the restroom before you commence your rest?"

"No." Rebi shook his head. Mezoti wriggled, curling up beneath her blanket and closing her eyes. Azan smiled sheepishly. Icheb rolled his eyes.

"Very well. You will now close your eyes." Seven moved to the foot of the twins' beds, blue eyes looking from one child to the next. "Icheb, close your eyes." She waited with more patience than he until he closed his eyes.

"If you keep rolling your eyes like that, they will roll right out of your Brunali head and across the cargo bay floor." Azan murmured, eyes shut but face turned towards Icheb's bed.

"That's not how it works." Icheb grumbled. "I'm not rolling my eyes."

Chakotay snorted, coming to stand beside Seven. He glanced at her. "Did they change the definition of rolling your eyes when I wasn't paying attention?"

"Perhaps." she commented. She turned to him, looking for any guidance he may be willing to offer her. "Is there any other ritual that we have missed?"

Mezoti sat up in her bed, blinking the sleepiness out of her eyes. "Affirmative!" Azan and Rebi turned their heads to look over at her, but her attention was solely on Seven. "Naomi says we are to receive kisses!"

Icheb sat up in disgust. "Kisses! Kisses are irrelevant!"

"They are not, Icheb!" argued Mezoti, whipping her head to the side to glare at the teen. "They are required for children to properly sleep!"

"Elaborate, Mezoti." Seven said with a slight frown. This was definitely a ritual she was unaware of.

The youngest Borgling smiled. "Naomi told me that her mother gives her a kiss goodnight every night before bed! Sometimes, Neelix does, too!" she explained. "She said she cannot properly sleep if she is not kissed goodnight just here-" She pointed to the middle of her forehead as she spoke. "-or here!" She pointed to her cheekbone. "We must have kisses also if we are to have proper sleep, Seven."

"I want a kiss goodnight, Seven." Rebi sat up in his bed. "If Mezoti gets one, so should we." Beside him, Azan sat up and nodded, watching Seven expectantly.

Seven looked from Rebi to Azan to Mezoti. Was this an appropriate ritual? Surely if Samantha Wildman kissed Naomi Wildman every night then it must have some merit to it, or else why do it at all? With a little unsure frown, she nodded. "As you wish."

"I do not." said Icheb, laying back down with his arms crossed over his chest.

The blonde moved to Rebi's bedside, leaning down and pecking a kiss to his forehead. When he laid back down with a smile, she re-tucked the blanket around his body before moving to do the same to his twin. When she got to Mezoti, the little girl raised her arms up and wrapped them around Seven's neck in a quick hug, returning the kiss to her cheek before she settled back under her blanket and let herself be tucked in. "Goodnight, children."

"Well done." Chakotay said quietly when she returned to his side. Icheb continued to pout in his bed, but the twins were already nodding off, and Mezoti was quickly joining them. The Commander turned to Seven, arms crossed comfortably and his easy grin on his face. "What time do they regenerate tonight?"

"2200 hours." she answered, her voice thoughtfully quiet. "Sharp."

"Okay, we will get the rest tonight." he whispered. He glanced behind him to the space hollowed out behind the barrels. "I'm sure it will fit if we rearrange the rest of this. We can wait until they are asleep."

A rare, bright smile lit up Seven's face. She quickly tamped it down to a smaller wisp of a grin. "I appreciate your assistance, Commander. The children will be pleased!"

"No problem. They deserve it." he returned. "I better head back to the bridge."

"Of course, Commander. Thank you.. for everything."

"Anytime, Seven." He gently clapped her shoulder. "I'll see you tonight."

 **XXX**

 **Well? What do you think? Good? Bad? Tell me in a review!**

 **~LM**


	8. Chapter 8

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hello, and welcome to Chapter 8 of What We Need! I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I am enjoying writing it! Thanks so much to my beta, Scifiromance, for putting up with me and letting me tell her a story! Thank you so much to all my reviewers! You guys really make my day! *MUAH***

 **OBLIGATORY LEGALITIES: Still haven't won the lottery... still don't own Star Trek... Damnit...**

 **~LM**

 **XXX**

"This is a waste of time..."

Seven grit her teeth, her eyes lifting to glance at the row of beds in the darkened bay. The three youngest children were sleeping soundly- Mezoti was curled in a ball beneath her blanket, Rebi lay tucked on his side, and Azan had slung his arms and legs out spread-eagle with his blanket hanging haphazardly over the edge of his bed. The oldest child, however, lay stiffly with his face turned up to the ceiling and his arms crossed stubbornly over his chest. "Icheb, do not wake the others."

"I didn't wake them." Icheb grumbled, turning his head to look at her as she stood at the console. "This is.. dumb."

A ghost of an amused smirk passed over Seven's face. The children had definitely been spending too much time around Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Kim- or at least in their holodeck programs. "You should be asleep, Icheb."

"I do not require sleep."

"If you did not require sleep then the Doctor would not have prescribed it to you." Seven said as she entered another string of commands into her console. "If you would lay still and be quiet like the others, you would achieve sleep."

"And if a strong enough subspace missile were to come out of nowhere and hit the ship, we would achieve obliteration." returned the piqued teen. "Neither one of those outcomes is preferable."

Seven looked up fully from her console. "Icheb, that is enough."

The teenager sat up in his bed, throwing his blankets back. "You are correct- it is enough. I do not require sleep!"

"Sshhh!" Seven's eyes turned worried, looking over the twins as Azan wriggled in his sleep. Rebi rolled over onto his back, pulling his blanket with him. Luckily, neither woke. "Icheb, do not wake the others!" she said in a raised hiss. "Just because you do not wish to sleep does not mean that you are within your right to disturb theirs!"

"Then. Let. Me. Go. Back. To. Astrometrics!"

Mezoti whimpered in her sleep, curling tighter. Seven had to stop herself from glaring at her oldest charge. " _FINE_." she hissed. The teenager swung his legs over the side of his bed, quickly weaving his way past his pseudo-siblings towards the console and the door beyond. His foster mother reached out and grabbed his arm before he could dodge away. When he turned to look at her, she spoke, voice authoritative. "I expect you to complete the next three chapters of your interspacial dynamics and at least one module of physics. Once you have completed that, you may assist Crewman Delaney with her scans."

"A whole module?!" Icheb's eyes widened. "That's a week's worth-"

"Your bed is waiting."

The teenager scowled. "Yes, ma'am." When Seven released his arm, he huffed before scurrying out of the bay.

With a surge of annoyance pushed to the back of her mind, Seven watched him. Once the doors slid shut behind him, she released it as a sigh before returning to her work.

"..Seven?"

The blonde nearly jerked in surprise, looking up to see Rebi's brown eyes peeking up at her from his bed. "Yes, Rebi?"

"Is it time to wake up?" he mumbled, turning on his side again to see her more comfortably.

"Not quite." she answered, rounding her console and walking to his bedside. She leaned down and straightened his blanket, tucking him back in. "You still have one hour and twenty-five minutes left for rest." He nodded acceptance with a yawn before she leaned down and kissed his forehead again. "Go back to sleep, Captain Proton."

Rebi's eyes stayed closed as he relaxed again. "..Not Captain Proton.." he whispered sleepily. ".. _Sötnos_.."

Seven couldn't help but be surprised at the way her chest suddenly warmed. She smiled, tucking his hair back from his forehead. "Very well. Go back to sleep, _sötnos_."

" _I'm_.. Captain.. Proton.." Azan mumbled from his bed, eyes still closed in sleep.

Seven snorted softly in amusement, moving to Azan's bedside. She gently pulled the blanket back up over him, tucking his legs and arms back into the bed before covering him. "Goodnight, Captain Proton." With the twins resettled, and Mezoti still fast asleep, Seven returned to her console. By the time she had her diagnostics pulled back up, Azan's arms and legs were splayed and his blanket was hanging to the floor again. Instead of readjusting him once more, she simply smiled affectionately before returning to her work.

 **XXX**

 _January 24- 2230 hours_  
 _I.E. later that night..._

 **XXX**

When Chakotay slipped quietly into the darkened cargo bay, Seven was standing in front of the line of alcoves, watching the children regenerate. She didn't turn to him until he was beside her, tearing her eyes away from the four peaceful faces at the very last minute. When she offered him a rare smile, he returned it easily. He softly clapped his hands together, rubbing them in anticipation of their task. "Ready?"

"Yes." She answered with a nod, turning bodily to him.

"Let's get to it, then." He gestured for her to lead the way, pausing only to make sure the children were still resting unaware behind them before they made their way to the replicator banks in the shuttle bay.

"I have comprised a list." she said, holding up the PADD in her hand.

"Do you have a budget?" he asked as they approached the bay.

"I think you will find that I have quite a few accrued rations, seeing as I have only used a spartan portion of them since I have been aboard."

Chakotay chuckled. "Okay then, what's number one on the list?"

"Number one: a bookshelf..."

 **XXX**

 _January 25- 1100 hours_

 **XXX**

B'Elanna walked steadfast into Astrometrics, arms crossed and ready for a fight- well, at least a good argument. Only the ridges that decorated her forehead kept her from scowling any deeper. At the expression on her face, whichever Delaney sister it was- she never could tell them apart- turned and looked at her wide-eyed as she approached the middle console. "Where is she?"

"Where is who, Lieutenant?" Jenny asked with a confused expression.

"The toothfairy. Where is Seven?" asked the half-Klingon. "I've been trying to contact her for an hour now!"

"Oh." said Jenny. "Seven took the day off." At the surprise on the engineer's face, the crewman continued. "That is to say, this morning, the Commander gave her the day off. I'm in charge of Astrometrics in her stead. The computer should have rerouted her hails to me. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Seven?" B'Elanna scrunched her nose. "Seven of Nine... took the day off?" She uncrossed her arms to rest her hands on her hips. "Since when does she take the day off?!"

"Apparently, Lieutenant, since today." Jenny glanced back at her console to check the progress of her scans. "Commander Chakotay-"

"B'Elanna to Chakotay." B'Elanna spat out, tapping her badge.

"Lieutenant.. The Commander has taken the morning off as well."

"Why would he-?" B'Elanna cut herself off with a shake of her head. "Computer, locate Seven of Nine."

 ***** _Seven of Nine is in Cargo Bay II._ *****

With a determined scowl, B'Elanna spun on her heel and stomped out of Astrometrics, heading for the Cargo Bay. That blonde barbie doll had something coming! What was she doing taking a vacation day when there was work to be done? Since when did robots need breaks anyway? Every now and then for a recharge, yeah, but a whole day?

She barely noticed the Cargo Bay doors sliding open in her haste to get inside and see just what was the hold-up with Miss Prissy Pants. As she barged into the bay, the level of noise coming from inside immediately quietened. The engineer looked around her with surprised eyes.

The barrels and crates had been moved closer to the doors, lined up tighter and out of the way. Back in the corner were several grey wall panels- not high enough to reach the ceiling beneath the balcony that circled the bay, but high enough to keep her from seeing what was behind it. In front of the alcoves were littered with several toys- boxes of puzzles and games, babydolls and their clothes, shuttles and sports equipment. It looked like Christmas morning had come, only Borg Santa was a month late.

One of the twins was sitting with Icheb on the floor in front of the alcoves around a low table, a large silver dish of marble-sized magnetic spheres in front of them. They each held handfuls of the little balls, shaping them en masse like play dough. Sitting on the dais of her alcove was Seven of Nine. Leaned under her left arm was the other twin, his arms around her waist in an easy embrace. Sitting between her knees was Mezoti, her head leaned back against Seven's chest in the circle of her arms so that she could see the pictures in the storybook held in the blonde's hands.

At the intrusion, Seven looked up from the book she had been reading aloud to Rebi and Mezoti, surprised to see the Klingon engineer standing there staring at them in open astonishment. "Lieutenant?" she acknowledged with a raise of her silver eyebrow.

"Hello, Lieutenant Torres." said Icheb respectfully, placing his blob of magnetic spheres down on the dish.

"Hi." Azan added, smiling her way. Rebi offered her a shy little wave. Mezoti merely watched her, eyes sleepy and half-lidded as she cuddled closer into Seven's embrace.

"Uh, hi, kiddos." B'Elanna choked out.

"Can I help you with something, Lieutenant?" Seven asked, slowly closing the thick storybook. She didn't miss the quiet sound of disappointment from Mezoti, reaching down and running her silver-laced hand through the girl's brown locks to soothe her over.

B'Elanna watched in fascination. "Uh, I.. Crewman Delaney said you took the day off."

Seven nodded, disentangling herself from Rebi and Mezoti. "I did. Cha- Commander Chakotay gave me the day off."

"Why?" B'Elanna asked incredulously.

"To spend time with us." Rebi answered, standing up as Seven stood.

Azan nodded, hopping up from his table. He ignored the handful of magnetic balls that went rolling, and the irritated teenager that hurried to gather them back up before they were lost forever. Instead, he brushed his overalls off. "Seven and Chakotay replicated us new things! Like these magnets!"

Rebi hopped off the dais to grab a bright red toy starship set near the console. He held the new toy tenderly, taking it to the lieutenant. "See? Look- it's a prototype with a new design for a warp core!" He pushed a button on the bottom, ejecting the core into his hand. It glowed a bright sky blue as he held it up. "It uses half the amount of antimatter, and can sustain warp nine for seventy-five hundred hours at a fuel ratio of seven to one parts per million!"

"It- what?" B'Elanna blinked down at the toy in the boy's hands. "Prototype?"

"Rebi designed it himself." Seven said, a small, proud smile on her face as she approached them. "I merely input his design into the replicator to create the toy."

"It's not a toy- it's a prototype, Seven.." Rebi stressed, cradling his shuttle to his chest.

The ice broken, Azan grabbed his new favorite toy- a set of red rollerblades. He rushed over to his twin and the engineer. "Look- Seven replicated a set of rollerblades for me! They go super-fast! Wanna see?"

"Oh, I-"

"Seven and the Commander replicated us several storybooks as well." said Mezoti, carrying the one Seven had been reading. "They contain a variety of children's stories from several Alpha Quadrant species." She smiled a little smile, leaning into Seven's side. "Seven has been reading them to us all morning."

B'Elanna gathered her wits about her, managing a smile for the children. She even managed to reach out and ruffle Mezoti's hair. "That's.. very nice of her, Squirt." she managed. Brown eyes turned up to curious blues. "Chakotay helped you with all of this?" She definitely needed to have a talk with him now- she could just smell the story that had to be behind this one.

"The Commander designed some of the playthings." Seven answered. "Did you need my assistance, Lieutenant?" Beside her, Mezoti's head jerked up to see her, distress already written on her little face. Seven pretended not to notice.

"I, um, yeah, no." B'Elanna waved her off, stepping back. "I can see you are.. busy." She glanced around at the toys again as the children lost interest and returned to their playthings. "I will brief you tomorrow after the morning meeting. No big deal."

The blonde drew her brows together in worry for a heartbeat before schooling her face back to its typical indifference. "Very well, Lieutenant." she said evenly. "Should something come up and you require my assistance, do not hesitate to ask."

B'Elanna almost scowled, caught off guard yet again by the offer and the polite way it was given to her. "Thank you." she replied, turning back to the cargo bay doors.

"Bye, Lieutenant." Mezoti said, still glued to Seven's side.

"Bye, Squirts." returned the engineer. "Have fun."

As the door shut behind the chief engineer, Seven gently directed Mezoti back to the dais of her alcove. "Come along." she said gently, taking the book back from Mezoti. "We have a half hour before lunchtime."

"Can we have another story?" Mezoti asked, retaking her place with Seven on the dais.

"Just one more." agreed Seven, opening the book.

 **XXX**

In the hallway, B'Elanna shook her head as if doing so could better help her make sense of the scene she just witnessed. Since when did the Borg read stories? Since when did the Borg replicate toys? Since when did the Borg cuddle children, for that matter? Since when did Chakotay play Santa Claus to the Borg? With a snort, she set off for the turbolift wondering if she had become trapped in some sort of twilight zone.

How would any of them know? Seven had the day off.

By the time she stepped off of the turbolift on Deck 2, she had a bit more wits about her. The universe was beginning to once again make sense. When she got to Chakotay's door, she was convinced that she had simply mistaken what she had seen. She lifted her hand and press the chime, shifting her weight from foot to foot as she crossed her arms to wait.

"Come in." Chakotay's voice came from inside, muffled and rough.

As the door slid open, she stepped into his quarters. Usually, his living space was cozy but bright and neat as a pin. This morning it was dark and messy with his shoes kicked off in the middle of the room and his uniform jacket thrown carelessly towards the couch and hanging half onto the floor. She immediately pulled the neckline of her shirt out as the rush of hot air hit her, rolling her eyes. An affectionate smile graced her lips even as she felt a bead of sweat well up on her temple. He always had slept better in hot temperatures. There had been quite a few nights that the heat from his bunk on the Val Jean had escaped enough to have half the ship a tropical wasteland. Chell, especially, had had a difficult time adapting. ' _You can take the boy out of the colony..'_

"Hey, Bee." Chakotay cleared his throat as he walked into the living area from his bedroom.

The half-Klingon turned to see him, holding back a chuckle at his disheveled appearance. His hair stuck out at all angles, and his blue plaid pajama pants were crooked from being pulled on quickly. "Good morning, Jungle boy." she returned.

"Jungle boy?" He laughed around a yawn. "Well, I guess that's better than Mowgli." He paused to stretch before speaking again. "What are you complaining about, anyway? I thought Klingons preferred the heat."

"We do." said B'Elanna. "But a dry heat. Not this rainforest-"

"Yeah, yeah." He playfully cut her off. "Computer, lower temperature to ambient." He nearly shivered as the heat was suddenly sucked from the room, dropping the temperature a good twenty-five degrees. Goosebumps raised up his arms and down his back. "Did you need something?"

B'Elanna released the neck of her shirt with a shake of her head, moving over to take a seat on his couch. She lifted his jacket up so that it no longer rested half on the floor. "No, not really. Do I need an excuse to come visit _mi hermano mayor_?" she teased.

"No, but you could wait until he was awake first." he teased back, taking his jacket and slipping it on while he adjusted to the cooler room.

"Why are you sleeping at 1130 hours?"

"Because I was up until 0200 hours last night."

The engineer caught his eyes, watching him. "Up late playing poker?" she asked teasingly.

The Commander snorted, shaking his head. "No, up helping Seven in the cargo bay." He covered another yawn with his hand. "It took longer than I thought it would."

She pounced, sitting up in her seat. "You were up til two in the morning with the Borg? Why?"

He hoped she didn't miss the scowl he sent her way in the still darkened livingroom. "Computer, lights." He had to rub his eyes in the sudden brightness, which only made him feel all the more grumpy at having been woken in the first place. It had been a long week. "Because we were getting stuff for the kids, Bee."

"Until two in the morning?"

"They needed some things." He returned, turning and walking back into his bedroom, but commanding the door to remain open so he could speak to her through it. "So we replicated them some."

"What could they possibly need-?"

He stuck his head out the open door, his open dresser drawer momentarily forgotten. "Do you realize those kids have been on Voyager nearly four months? And they didn't have anything really of their own." He pulled back into his room, grabbing a grey shirt from his drawer and yanking it on. "When I was that age, I had a whole room full of my own stuff. I'm sure you did, too. But they had nothing."

B'Elanna sat back against the cushions. "..oh."

Quickly pulling on some black slacks, he continued. "You haven't spent much time around them, have you?"

"No." returned the engineer with a tip of her head. "I see them in the messhall." She smirked. "And following Seven up and down the corridors like a brood of little ducklings."

Chakotay snorted, coming back into the livingroom to sit in the chair and pull on his black socks. "They're just kids, Bee-"

"Borg kids."

She didn't miss the darker look he gave her. "They're just kids." he reiterated. "And kids need kiddie stuff. Just finally realized it."

A wave of relief washed over her. The world made sense again. Chakotay was a hard man when he needed to be, but he was a big teddy bear underneath if you got to know him. "Oh, so you just thought they needed a bit more, so you-"

He shook his head. "No, actually, Seven came to me about it."

"Seven?!" B'Elanna fought to keep from dropping her jaw. "Seven came to you about-"

"Yeah, she _is_ their guardian, B'Elanna." He gave her a raised eyebrow to go with his scowl, looking at her like she had grown another head. "She would be the one to know what they needed or not."

This lop-sidedness was going to give her whiplash. "How would Seven know what anyone-"

"B'Elanna."

The irritated look on his face was one she knew well enough to not test. Holding her hands up in mock-surrender, she rolled her eyes. "Okay, so what, then? She look up a bunch of generic but adequately sufficient toys, and then have you-?"

"No. She had a few ideas for some toys. I added a few more. After we did the kids' beds-"

"Beds? What do they need beds for?"

"...to sleep in, B'Elanna."

She rolled her eyes again, disbelieving. "Ha. Right. Okay, boss."

By then, he had his shoes pulled on, running his fingers through his hair to tame it back. "Computer, time."

 ***** _The time is 1153 hours._ *****

"Well, now that I'm up, I'm hungry." said the commander. "How about you? Or did you just wake me up to drill me about my nightly activities?"

"I'm due to meet Tom in the messhall at noon. You're welcome to join us." B'Elanna said, standing and brushing imaginary dust from her pants. "..Unless you'd rather spend your lunchtime with the Borg."

"Don't push it, Bee." Chakotay said with a snort, following her out of his quarters.

 **XXX**

At 1200 hours, the lunch rush was just beginning as first shift began to meander their way to Deck 2 with hungry, if not cautious, bellies. The majority seemed to prefer their lunch to go, hitting up one of several breakrooms on each deck to have a more private meal with their own groups of friends. Since the messhall was only one deck down from the bridge, the bridge crew preferred to lunch there. By the time B'Elanna and Chakotay walked across Deck 2 to the messhall, the line was already beginning to stretch to the doors and the tables were half full.

"Must be something good today." B'Elanna commented, joining the line with Chakotay. "Smells good. Maybe Neelix replicated."

The Commander chuckled. "Maybe." He watched Nicoletti and Ashmore walk by with their meals wrapped up to go. They smiled at him respectfully as they passed, talking about whatever gossip was making its way around engineering that morning.

"Hey, B'Elanna!" Tom and Harry waved from their usual table, already seated with their trays.

"We'll be right there." B'Elanna called back to them, stepping up in line to grab her silverware.

Across the messhall, tucked away in the corner, Seven settled Azan in the seat beside her. The little boy stared glumly down at his tray of meat and rice, but made no attempt to eat. Instead, he discreetly leaned against Seven's arm, pushing the tray out away from him.

"Are you going to be sick?" Mezoti asked him quietly, leaning forward over her tray to see around Seven. After her last few episodes, she had a new appreciation for Azan's dietary complications.

"No." he said stubbornly, swallowing. "I just don't want to eat."

"I'll let you have my desert cup.." Rebi said, a worried lip chewed between his teeth as he watched his twin. "Don't you want it?"

"No."

"Leave Azan alone." Seven said gently, lifting her own spoon to her lips and blowing to cool her steaming rice.

"Perhaps we should go to sickbay." said Icheb, stirring his own bowl. "And allow the doctor to prescribe Azan something for his stomach."

"I don't wanna go." complained the sickly boy. "I just don't wanna eat, okay?"

"You don't want to eat because you will be sick." Icheb stated. "But the Doctor could-"

"I don't wanna go!" Azan grumbled, turning his head up to see Seven's face. "Seven.. It's okay, right?"

"It is up to you, Azan." she answered him, setting her spoon down. She looked down at his head leaned against her shoulder. "Are you experiencing pain? Or just nausea?"

"Nausea.. The food stinks.." he answered. "I'm sure it tastes okay, and that Neelix worked efficiently to prepare it, but.."

"Would you prefer a flavored supplement?"

"No." He wheedled his way under her arm, resting his ear over the inside of her shoulder.

Mezoti frowned, watching him, clutching her new blonde babydoll closer to her chest so that its short curly hair tickled her chin. Icheb decided to ignore them, trying to hide his PADD in his lap while he sightlessly stabbed his plate with his fork until he hit the veggie chunks and brought a bite to his lips. Seven rolled her eyes, reaching beneath the table and snatching the PADD from Icheb's lap. It was while the teenager was loudly complaining, that Rebi, clutching his new shuttle in his non-dominant arm, spotted Chakotay.

"Professor!" The twin hopped up, leaving his tray behind as he wove through the tables after the Commander, ignoring Seven calling after him to come back to eat. Such things could wait until after he spoke to Chakotay. "Professor!"

Chakotay had just sat down beside Harry when Rebi's voice pulled him up from Tom's joking. He glanced up as the ten year old twin made it to their table, a bright smile on his young face. "Hello, Rebi."

"Hi." returned the child, pulling his new shuttle up from under his arm and holding it out for inspection. "Professor, look what Seven replicated for me! It's my prototype!" he said excitedly. "She said you assisted her in its creation." His smile turned shy. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, scout." he returned, giving the shuttle a look over. "It is an impressive little thing, isn't it."

"Prototype?" Tom asked, full attention on the little red shuttle. "What'cha got there?"

"It's my prototype for a new-"

Mezoti walked up after Rebi, rounding him as he explained to an intrigued Tom about the design of his shuttle. She set her eyes on Chakotay instead, ignoring the others at the table. "Hello, Commander." she said quietly, her babydoll cradled against her chest. "Seven said that you helped her this morning." She smiled sweetly, her eyes dropping to the top of her doll's blonde head. "Thank you. I.. I love it."

Chakotay gave her a friendly smile. "You're welcome, Zotti." he said, reaching out and patting her babydoll's head before running a finger down its ridged nose and then over the tip of one prominent ear. "It was Seven's idea to make her look Norcadian."

"Have you given her a name?" Harry asked indulgently from Chakotay's other side, leaning over his tray to see the little girl. A smile spread across his face as Mezoti's cheeks pinkened. She looked up at the young ensign through her long lashes, her smile turned bashful. For a second, she parted her lips to answer him, then shut them and quickly shook her head. "Well, I've heard that Harrietta is a nice name.." teased the ensign.

"I.." she started, then stopped. "I will.. take that under advisement."

"See that you do." he returned lightly. "If more people around here paid attention to what I had to say, we-"

Chakotay snorted in amusement, cutting him off. "Oh, really?"

Harry rose to the challenge, his face a mask of self-righteous confidence. "Yeah, really."

The snort was followed with a light chuckle. "If you say so, Ensign."

Mezoti smirked, watching them.

"Children?" Seven's voice carried over the messhall, gathering the attention of both of her missing charges.

Mezoti turned to glance back at the blonde, guaging how much time she had before she would be seriously called back. Not long if Azan's face was anything to go by- he was white as a sheet. Quickly, she spun back to Chakotay and Harry, reaching out and looping her free arm around the Commander's neck. She pecked a quick kiss on his cheek before releasing him as swiftly as she had hugged him. "Thanks, Chakotay. Bye, Harry!"

Rebi watched her scuttle back to their table across the bay. Seven raised an eyebrow his way. He knew that look all too well. With a small sigh, he glanced back at Tom. "I gotta go." His eyes found Chakotay's. "Thanks again, Professor."

"Anytime, scout."

"See ya, later." Tom said to the boy, gently handing him back his toy shuttle. "That's a really neat shuttle you designed. Next time I need to make some modifications to the Flyer, I'll have to see if Seven will let you come watch."

A huge smile lit up Rebi's face. "Really, Lieutenant?" he asked excitedly.

"Oh, sure!" returned Tom seriously. "Just make sure its okay with your.. Seven."

"Thanks, Lieutenant!" Rebi said, turning to dash back to his guardian's side. "Seven! Seven, guess what Lieutenant Paris told me!"

With the children gone, B'Elanna playfully nudged Tom's shoulder with her own. "Look at you being all sweet today." she teased.

"Why'd you hesitate just then?" Harry asked, rolling his eyes as B'Elanna snorted.

"Regretting your offer already?" snickered the half-Klingon.

Tom shook his head. "No." he answered, stirring his vegetable dish with his spoon. "I wouldn't mind if the kiddo came and watched me change a few relays. Naomi has had a flying lesson or two." The vegetables he scooped up onto his spoon looked decidedly gelatinous as he examined them. "I hesitated because I almost told him to make sure it would be okay with his mom." He glanced over at Harry. "Didn't wanna hurt the kid's feelings."

"Ah, I see." returned the ensign with a nod. "Good call."

 **XXX**

"And here is a nice dose of antiemetic for Azan." the Doctor said, pushing the hypo against the little boy's throat. Used to it, the twin didn't move or wince as it hissed, even though this particular medicine was known for burning a little as it was forced through tissue. "There's a good man." said the Doctor, patting Azan's knee before loading the hypo with another vial. "And here's a bit more analgesic to top you up until next week." With the medicine administered, he turned to Seven as she waited patiently at the end of the bed. "He should be fine now. He isn't dehydrated so he won't need an oral electrolyte solution as long as he eats this afternoon after the medicine is fully kicked in."

"I already feel better." said Azan, scooting off the biobed to stand beside Rebi.

"Good." said the Doctor. "Sip water for thirst today; eat light tonight." He turned to Seven. "If he has a relapse, bring him back. You know the drill."

"Yes, Doctor." nodded the blonde. She turned back to her charges, glancing up at Icheb who stood waiting by the door. "If that is all, we will return to the Cargo bay for your rest period."

"Must we?" asked the teenager with a roll of his eyes.

"Sleep is very important." answered the Doctor. "Whether you sleep during the day with your pseudo-siblings or decide to lay down for part of the night, a few hours of shut-eye will do you good." Knowing how to get Seven to comply, he went in for the kill. "A few hours of sleep could increase your awake time productivity by tens of percents."

"I'm ready to lay down." Azan said quietly, his medicine kicking in. Rebi reached out and took his hand, leading him after Seven and Mezoti to the door. "But this time, I think I will try to dream about something else. I don't have the stomach to be Captain Proton today."

"You can be Buster." Rebi said placatingly. "I will be Proton this time."

 **XXX**

 **Good? Bad? Tell me in a review!**

 **~LM**

 **mi hermano mayor- My big brother**


	9. Chapter 9

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Welcome to Chapter 9 of What We Need! Thank you so much to Scifiromance and Starshine15 for being sounding boards and putting up with me! I know it's been a while since I updated this- I've been super busy at work and playing with a few new ideas and with Happenstance's next chapter. Hopefully, I can update that one soon, too! Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoy!**

 **~LM**

 **XXX**

 _January 28_

 **XXX**

"Boys, you may choose the next meteorological phenomena." Seven said as Icheb's holographic winds finally died down. She released Mezoti's hand long enough to tuck her windswept hair behind her ears. The second it was back at her side, the little girl had repossessed it, pulling Seven's arm around her so she could cuddle in against her.

The twins shared a mischievous smirk, but it was Rebi who spoke. "Computer, simulate a force three rainstorm."

Mezoti squealed, her voice echoing back from the holographic mountains that surrounded the hilly green valley they stood in, as the five of them were suddenly drenched in cold rain. Strong winds whipped at their clothes and hair, blowing the heavy raindrops into them like a thousand bee stings, freezing them to the bone and soaking them thoroughly. Icheb put his hands over his brows, keeping the rain out of his eyes as he made his way to stand beside Seven and Mezoti. The twins were jumping and cheering, running through the rain with the kind of childish abandon that children live for and adults envy.

"Can't catch me!" Rebi called out to his twin, skirting around behind Icheb.

"Bet!" Azan slid around Seven and Mezoti, ignoring the little girl's startled yelp. He had intended to cut his brother off, but the smaller boy leapt over his twin and continued on unhindered.

Mezoti stamped a foot. "I'll catch you, Azan!" The eight-year old let out a laugh, releasing her hold on Seven's arm to dash after the twins.

Seven tried unsuccessfully to keep her hair out of her face, finally giving up and letting it plaster down to her ears and neck as she watched the youngest three children laugh and shout and play in the holographic downpour. Icheb's lips quirked beside her as he followed his siblings' movements. "We have another ten minutes and forty-three seconds before our holodeck time is up." Seven told him, her voice loud enough to be heard over the rainstorm. "Don't you want to play with the others?"

Icheb smiled. "Don't you?"

Seven had just barely scrunched her nose when three little bodies suddenly surrounded hers, six little imploring hands on her arms. "Seven! Seven!" Azan laughed. "You're it!" said Rebi, letting go and running away with his brother in tow.

Mezoti tugged her arm. "Come on! Let's catch them!"

"Mezoti, I-" Seven allowed herself to be pulled along behind the little girl, up the big hill the twins had just scampered up and were taunting them from with wagging tongues and fingers. Just as they crested the tall hill, a clap of thunder boomed across their field followed by a brilliant flash of lightning hitting so close that its electricity could be felt charging the air. Both Seven and Mezoti cried out in surprise. Seven grabbed Mezoti, nearly tackling her down to the ground and covering her smaller body with her own. "Get down!"

"Seven!" Rebi yelped as the two boys rushed to them, keeping their bodies low to the ground as another bolt hit near where the first had. They easily huddled up to her side, startled themselves by the meteorological lightshow.

"Computer, delete lightning!" Seven yelled out over the wind, thunder, and rain. The third bolt of lightning fizzled out as it began. She pushed herself up to look down at the three children laying wide-eyed with her. "Are you damaged?"

"No." Azan said quietly, looking his brother over.

"No." Mezoti mewled.

"I'm glad my pants were already wet." Rebi muttered with a smirk, turning to meet his brother's eyes.

"You didn't!" Azan laughed.

Rebi shook his head. "No, I didn't really."

"Gross, Rebi!" giggled Mezoti, sitting up. She looked down at her green blouse and black leggings. "I'm soaked!"

"We all are." Icheb said, marching up the hill to them. Though he had clearly heard Seven delete the lightning subroutine, the clouds above them were still dark and ominous, shadowing their faces as they continued to roll in. "Are you guys okay?"

Azan had hopped up, holding his hand down to pull Rebi to sit. "We're operating within acceptable parameters."

"Our cardio-pulmonary nodes were tested." Rebi answered. He snickered. "We passed."

"Yes, a gold star for each of you." snorted the teen. "Our holodeck time is nearly up. Should we go ahead and go?"

"I want to be dry again." said Azan, taking his twin's hand. "Come on, Pee-pants." Instead of fuss at the nickname, Rebi only laughed, following Azan down the hill.

"I suppose we should go." said Seven. "There is not enough time left to continue our meteorological study. We will have to revisit them at another time." When she stood, she pulled Mezoti to her feet as well. "Computer, end program."

The hill beneath them, the mountains around them, and the dark stormclouds above them all fizzled away. Seven felt Mezoti's hand slide into her own before she took a step towards the holodeck doors. As she moved, she was surprised to feel the resistance of water, and hear it splash when she sloshed through it. "What?" Looking down, the entire holodeck was filled with an inch of standing water.

"Wow!" Rebi and Azan immediately began bouncing. Their clothes and hair had not reverted to dry with the end of the program. Neither had Seven's or Icheb's or Mezoti's. All five stood soaked as they had been in the program.

"Icheb, when you pulled up this program, did you tell the computer to-" Seven began, turning to look at the teen with surprised eyes.

Icheb took a defensive step back. "Do you think I would have ordered real water?" he asked, crossing his arms. "I only selected the program and instructed the computer to begin it. I had no say in its creation or execution!"

"Why is the water real?" Mezoti asked, kicking up an arc of the clear fluid in front of her with the tip of a black maryjane shoe. "It's cold, Seven."

The twins continued to run and play in the smaller space, hopping as high as they could to make the biggest splashes. They dodged away from Icheb as they managed to rewet the teen's already sodden corduroys, laughing shrilly as he feigned chasing them. "This is great!" Rebi enthused. "Better than the program!"

"This is not great." Seven said, sloshing over to the replicator against the far wall. "We must clean this mess before we can continue our evening." Tapping her fingers over the controls, she quickly replicated two mops and a series of sponges in a bucket. "Alright, children-"

Rebi came and grabbed up a sponge, dipping it into the water to soak before slinging it at Icheb. The blue sponge hit the teen square in the face with a loud, wet plop. Icheb was quick to redip the sponge and take his aim. Rebi, not having thoroughly thought his plan through, squeaked and ducked behind Mezoti. When Icheb threw the sponge back, it was Mezoti's chest who took the hit, spraying water out every which way.

"Seven!" Mezoti squealed, dodging away from her psuedo brother and to the safety of her guardian's side.

"Children!" Seven tried to pull their attention back, but Azan came behind her and stole the rest of the sponges. "Azan!"

"I'll show you!" Azan challenged, dipping his handful of sponges in the water before rapid-firing them at Icheb. In the midst of his onslaught, his twin joined him, slinging until the sponges were all gone.

"Children!" Seven again tried to regain control, but the three boys were not ready to give up their water fight. As Icheb and the twins scrambled for the sponge missiles, Mezoti scrambled her way up into Seven's arms. The blonde had no choice but to support the eight year old's frantic weight unless she wanted to topple over into the cold water being slung about them. With an patient but irritated sigh, she turned back to the control panel to command the holodeck to drain itself and recycle the water back into the ship.

"No!" Azan moaned, grabbing a sponge up from the lowering water level and lobbing it at Rebi. "The water is going away!"

"Now I've got you!" Icheb had amassed a handful of sponges in his arm. He quickly took his aim at his younger siblings, slinging them towards the twins with pinpoint accuracy.

"Yeowch!" Rebi yelped, taking a sponge to the face. With a flair of the dramatic, he let himself fall back to splash in the quickly receding water. "I'm hit!"

Azan laughed, splashing down beside him. "Me, too."

"I'm cold." Mezoti shivered as Seven set her back on her own feet. "Aren't you cold, Seven?"

The blonde woman nodded once, watching the last bit of water go down the grated drain in the middle of the room with a loud, gurgling slurp. "Yes." she answered. "Now, since there is no more water to fight with, after cleaning this holodeck, we should return to the bay and dry off."

"We can take showers." said Azan, pulling Rebi to stand beside him.

"We are already wet." Icheb pointed out, lifting up one of the mops Seven had replicated and running it over the wet floor to dry it. "Any more would be.. what's the word.."

"Overkill." offered Mezoti, lifting a discarded sponge and setting it in Seven's bucket.

 **XXX**

"Ten rations." Harry finally wagered, adjusting the strap of his duffel bag higher on his shoulder. "And not a bit less."

"Sure, I'll take ten rations off you." Chakotay smirked, following alongside the ensign with a bright smile on his face. "That would vastly improve my mood."

Tom guffawed. "The way I see it, I'm about to have an extra twenty rations to take B'Elanna on that date with next weekend."

"You wish." said Harry. "I've been practicing my swing."

"Practice all you want." returned the pilot. "I'm just naturally talented when it comes to hoverball."

"We'll see about that." said Chakotay, rounding the corner to the holodeck doors.

"I know its just so unfair- what with my A+ piloting skills, my roguish good looks, and now my athletic ability... but don't think I forget who my friends are when it all comes down to it." teased Tom.

It was Chakotay's turn to laugh then as Harry rolled his eyes. The Commander clapped a hand on Tom's back. "The universe sure has shined on you, pal." he snickered. The younger two joined in his laughter as the holodeck doors slid open. What spilled out of it was enough to cut off all three.

Icheb and Azan were laughing as they stepped out of the holodeck, wringing their clothes and flicking water at each other. Just behind them were Rebi and Mezoti, their hands firmly clasped in Seven's. The blonde had a wide, happy grin on her face- what could be seen of it from behind a mass of dripping wet curls. She had been about to say something to the two children held to her, her arm already bringing Rebi in closer to her side, when she noticed Chakotay, Tom, and Harry. Immediately, she schooled her expression, standing straight. "Good evening."

The opposite from subtle change in her expression was almost enough to draw a frown out of Chakotay's face. The children all automatically picked up on her, their own mirth bleeding out of their faces. "Good evening." returned the Commander, keeping his grin firmly in place.

"You guys are all wet." Harry observed playfully.

"We were allowed to study meteorological phenomena, Ensign." Icheb said politely, standing straight. "And it-"

Azan could hold it in no longer, giggling. "And the holodeck made the rainwater real!"

Mezoti nodded, running a hand over her wet locks. Like Seven's, her hair was a mass of curls and waves, plastered to the sides of her face and down her neck. "We had a water fight!"

Tom snorted. "A water fight, huh? Which program did you play? Maybe we should try it out sometime."

"Fun lessons?" Harry asked. "Lucky!"

"We cleaned up our mess, though, Commander." Icheb said, looking from his foster mother to the three men and back.

Mezoti nodded, leaning into Seven's side. "The holodeck is squeaky clean now."

"Come, children." Seven said evenly, directing Rebi and Mezoti after Icheb and Azan. "Let's not keep them from their game."

"Oh, you're not keeping us from anything." Chakotay was quick to say. "We're a few minutes early."

Seven spared him a small smile, releasing Rebi's hand long enough to tuck the wet hair in her face behind her ear. "All the same, Commander." She met Tom and Harry's eyes briefly before turning to lead her charges down the hallway.

 **XXX**

"Find something clean and dry." Seven said as they flooded into their bay. She released Rebi and Mezoti's hands, watching the three youngest children sprint to the back of the bay and around the dividers into their new living quarters. When she and Icheb rounded the last grey wall panel, Azan and Rebi were playfully wrestling over who got the first bundle of clothes from the white four drawer dresser against the wall. Mezoti had beaten them both, a bundle of clothes held out in front of her and away from her wet dress. She dropped them on the end of her bed to sorted.

"Ha! I win!" Rebi laughed, grabbing up a bundle of clothes. Instead of taking them to his bed, he put them on the middle shelf of their new bookshelf, guarding them from his brother trying to playfully steal them before he yanked his blue shirt up over his head.

"Rebi, in the bathroom." Seven reminded, picking up a tennis racket and a blue rocketship from the floor and taking them to the long toybox beside the bookshelf. Dropping them inside, she turned and gave the twin a playful swat, urging him on towards the alcoves. "Go change so we can ingest our nutrients for the evening."

"Dinnertime?" Rebi grabbed his clothes, racing past his twin back towards the alcoves. "Come on, Azan!"

"Heavens forbid you miss your dinner." Icheb teased the boys, grabbing a handful of clothes from the bottom drawer of the dresser. With a nod towards Seven and Mezoti, he followed after them.

 **XXX**

"Seven! Seven!"

Seven looked up from the tray she had just set before her on the table as Meghan Delaney hurried across the messhall. "Yes?" she asked, standing.

When Meghan made it to her side, she reached out and put a hand on Seven's arm. "We found them! We found the shuttle!"

At the table beside them, the group of science ensigns whipped around to see. "You found the Captain?"

"Yes! We detected a distress call, and-"

Harry's voice came over the intercom. ***~** _"_ All seniors officers report to the bridge! _"~_ *****

 **XXX**

"Tal!"

Seven nearly blanched as the quiet sickbay they had walked into suddenly became loud with the excited noises of her youngest three. The timid Bajoran resting in the middle biobed sat up at the sight of the children, meeting their excitement with a bright, if not tired, smile of her own. Seven had made them wait an hour after the successful retrieval of the Captain and her away team before allowing them to accompany her to sickbay to check on their status. She would be in denial if she said she wasn't at least a little concerned with Kathryn's well-being, and out-right lying if she said the children weren't at all worried about their favorite Astrometrics crewman. Still, it wouldn't do for them to be rambunctious in the face of others trying to heal. "Children!"

"Hey, I missed you guys!" Tal said as the twins shimmied up onto the end of her biobed by her feet. She folded her legs up to give them room, automatically scooting over to accommodate Mezoti crawling up into her side. "Did you miss me?"

"We did!" said Azan, keeping his voice down as he glanced Seven's way.

"Very much." said Rebi.

"You were gone a very long time." said Mezoti.

Icheb snickered as he joined them, standing beside the bed. "Crewman Celes did not mean to be gone so long. It was an accident."

"Is it because the Captain can't pilot a shuttle?" asked Azan.

"Azan!" Seven raised an eyebrow his way, allowing the children to remain with the young Bajoran as she joined the Doctor beside the unconscious Captain's bed. "I'm sure Tal Celes would like to rest after her venture-"

The Bajoran shook her head, throwing her arms around Mezoti and pulling her in close. "Oh, no! I'm fine!" she said. "They aren't bothering me- promise!"

The Doctor watched the display curiously. "You really should be resting, Miss Celes.." He turned to Seven. "I'm afraid sickbay will be closed barring any medical emergencies. I can't have every lollygagger in here all night."

Seven nodded. "We will go, then. I only wanted to check on the Captain's well-being." She glanced at the children still whispering excitedly with Tal. "And Crewman Celes."

The Doctor smiled, running his tricorder over Kathryn's sleeping form. "Crewman Harren will need a bit more rehabilitation than the others, but knowing the Captain, she will be back on her feet by morning." he assessed. "So no worries there."

"When can Tal come back to Astrometrics?" asked Azan, watching his brother crawl up to join Mezoti at Tal's side.

"Oh, I think she will want at least a few days off before returning to-" The youngest three cut the Doctor off with a chorus of disappointed groans.

"We have so much to show you, though!" said Rebi to the young crewman. "Seven and the Commander have changed around our Cargo bay!"

Mezoti nodded excitedly. "We have beds now! And a bookshelf!"

"And toys!" added Azan. "You have to come see!"

"Toys?" Tal smiled, "I will have to come sometime, then." She reached around Mezoti to cover her mouth for a yawn. "But it's gonna have to wait until I'm released from sickbay."

Seven rounded the Captain's biobed, stopping behind Azan and gently lifting him down off the biobed. She followed him with Rebi, ushering them to the side. "As soon as she is better, and she wants to, she can come and see your things, children." she said placatingly. "But for now-"

It was then that the sickbay doors slid open, admitting a relieved looking Chakotay and an even-faced Tuvok. The former was quick to go to the Captain's bed, pausing only to nod at Seven and the children before turning his attention to the Doctor for a prognosis. Tuvok simply walked alongside him without the rush of impatience, arms folded behind his back and as regal as any king anywhere. "Is-"

The Doctor held his hands up. "She's going to be just fine. She's just resting for now." he answered the Commander before lifting up a hypospray and bringing it to the Captain's bedside. He carefully injected it into Kathryn's throat, stepping back so that Chakotay could speak to her while he scanned over her.

"Captain?"

Kathryn's eyes rolled for a second as she came around, a hand lifting up to cup over her aching forehead. "Chakotay-.. my crew?"

As she tried to sit up, Chakotay and Seven, who quickly stepped up on her other side, gently held her back down. "Take it easy." Chakotay said. "No serious injuries. Everyone is just fine."

Finally, she was able to focus her eyes, looking from Seven's cool blues to Chakotay's sable browns. "Fine?"

"You gave us quite the scare for a good long while." said the Doctor, clicking his tricorder closed.

"We received your distress call." continued Chakotay. "Or, rather, Harry did."

"Remind me to thank him." said Kathryn, clearing the groggy out of her voice.

"We found the Flyer drifting above a gas giant." said the Commander. "You were all unconscious."

Her brows drew together as she attempted to sit up again. "Any sign of another vessel or some kind of entity?"

"Entity, Captain?" Seven raised an eyebrow, glancing back at Tal Celes- and Billy Telfner and Mortimer Harren in the beds beyond her.

"No, no entities." answered Chakotay, standing straight. "What happened out there?"

Kathryn smirked. "The good shepherd went after some lost sheep." she answered. "And ran into a hell of a wolf."

"Like _Mary Had A Little Lamb_?" Rebi asked softly behind Seven, coming and standing by her side. When he took her hand, she easily looped her arm around his shoulders.

The Captain, just having noticed the boy, nodded as she smiled at him. "Just like _Mary Had A Little Lamb_." she answered. "But with a bit of _Red Riding Hood_ , too."

"That's the wolf bit." Icheb said to Azan. The younger of the two nodded sagely.

"Either way.." Kathryn finally managed to sit up with some help. "How long am I stuck down here, Doc?"

"Just a few days for observation." returned the Doctor, his voice light and apathetic, pointedly not looking to see the surprised look that crossed the Captain's face. After a second, he couldn't hold in the smirk. "Oh, only overnight, Captain. Let me get one good night of rest in you before I turn you back to the wolves."

"Hey." Chakotay snickered. "You calling us wolves?"

The holographic doctor only raised an eyebrow at him, lifting his tray of tools from Kathryn's bedside and moving to Tal's. "Now, Miss Celes, let's have another look at you before bedtime."

"I feel fine, Doctor." said the Bajoran, sitting up straight to let him scan. "Honest."

"I suppose I can stand one night in sickbay." said Kathryn, settling back down into her pillow. "But tomorrow it's business as usual bright and early." She pointed a finger in emphasis. "We have wasted too long on this. The sooner we get back on course, the better."

"It's a plan." agreed Chakotay.

"Seven, you may be interested in my report- once I've written it." Kathryn said, reaching out and putting a hand on Seven's arm. "We came across an entirely new specie- I'd be very interested to know if the Borg have ever encountered it."

"We will look at it in the morning, Captain," said Seven with a bird-like nod, releasing Rebi to join his brother as Mezoti slunk off of Tal's bedside.

"Seven, can we go?" Mezoti asked softly, watching the Captain like she was watching a spider crawl across the floor. "I'm tired. Can we, please?"

The twins looked properly scandalized. "But it isn't bedtime!" Azan complained. "It's not bedtime for hours!"

Mezoti was unrelenting, turning her pout up to Seven's face, her eyes imploring as she shimmied her way under the blonde's arm. "Please, Seven? I'm really sleepy.. I don't want to be here anymore. Can we go?"

"By all means." said the Captain to the little girl. "I'd like a bit of rest myself after that excursion."

"Very well, Captain." said Seven. "Children-"

"But it isn't bedtime!" Rebi moaned. "We don't wanna go to regenerate yet!"

"No fair!" Azan groused, crossing his arms with a scowl. "Just because Mezoti is the baby-"

The Norcadian glared at her brothers. "I am not a baby! Seven-"

"Children!" Seven cut them all off, her expression enough to quiet the boys and pacify the girl. "Tell Tal Celes and the Captain goodnight. We will see them in the morning."

"But-"

"Azan."

The skinnier twin sighed out of his nose. "Goodnight Crewman Celes. Goodnight, Captain."

"Goodnight, Crewman Celes, Captain." said Icheb.

Rebi mirrored his brother's sigh. "Goodnight."

"Mezoti?" Seven prompted. Instead of complying, the eight year old turned her face in, hiding it against the blonde guardian's clavicle with a shake of her head. "Zotti."

"Can we go?" Mezoti asked in a pitiful mewl. "Please?" She gave Seven's arm a tug, dodging behind her to leave. "Come on, Seven.."

It was only then that Seven realized the warning signs of an impending anxiety attack. She could feel the anxiety beginning to pour out of Mezoti as she stood begging to leave. She was definitely curious as to why she had become so upset so quickly when five minutes ago she was happy to see Tal Celes back and in one piece, but shoved the thought back in lieu of alleviating the symptoms. Instead, she ushered the children towards the sickbay doors. "Of course. Come along, children." With a nod towards Tuvok, the Doctor, and a mildly concerned Chakotay, they left.

 **XXX**

Back in the Cargo Bay, Mezoti stuck close to Seven's side. Of course, it was too early to regenerate, and she didn't protest to the boys wanting to stay up to play longer. After a while, they had learned her moods, so they didn't invite her to join them as they crowded around the low table with Icheb's box of magnetic spheres. Seven kept glancing down at her, her blue eyes turned grey in concern, but she made no move to disengage Mezoti's arms from her ribs or to push her away. Instead, Seven kept one arm securely around the young girl's shoulders as she worked one-handed on the console in front of their alcoves.

"Seven?" Mezoti whispered.

"Yes, _älskling_?"

"I don't want anything to change."

That caught her full attention. Seven dropped her hand from the console to lift Mezoti's chin. "Elaborate."

Mezoti pursed her lips, eyes glancing down to the walls separating them from her brothers and then back to the grey-blue orbs examining her face with gentle scrutiny. "I just.." She shrugged, at a loss for words. "I like things the way they are, okay?"

 **XXX**

 **Love it? Hate it? Tell me in a review!**

 **~LM**


	10. Chapter 10

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Welcome to Chapter 10! Gosh, it's been a long time since I have updated this! I still love this story.. it will get out there eventually. Thanks so much to Scifiromance and Starshine for putting up with me and letting me tell them a story! XOXO! For those also following _Happenstance_ , I plan to update it really soon, as well. If you don't follow Scifiromance's _The Gift_ , get on it! **

**OBLIGATORY LEGALITIES: Don't own it. Sorry, guys.**

 **~LM**

 **XXX**

 _January 31, 2377_

 **XXX**

"Trade ya?" Rebi asked, holding out his handful of berries. "For you bacon?" Azan eyed him warily, weighing his pros and cons for a moment before agreeing.

Seven barely looked up from her own tray, her eyes affectionately rolling as she transferred her own portion over to the burgeoning foodie's tray. "You had better be able to eat all that, Rebi."

"I will." said the boy, piling his meat in between two pieces of buttered and strawberry jammed toast. "Wanna bite, Seven? It's strawberry." He offered, holding the sandwhich out to his guardian. "I can make you one, too, if you want me to ask Neelix for more toast."

"No, thank you, _sötnos_." Seven answered with a small smile. "Perhaps next time."

"Okay." said Rebi, pulling his sandwhich back in and taking a big bite. He shrugged. "Your loss. It's pretty good." he said around a mouthful. He quickly set it down, a sheepish look at Seven's raised eyebrow. "Sorry, Seven.." Undaunted, he pulled the sandwhich open and began piling more jam in. "Now, for the _pièce de résistance_..."

"That.." Icheb said, watching his younger brother over the edge of his PADD, "Is disgusting."

"You're disgusting." countered Rebi, sprinkling scrambled eggs and pepper into his masterpiece.

"Boys." Seven warned, lifting her glass of water to sip. She glanced at Icheb over the rim of her glass, catching him trying to stow his PADD in his lap. "Icheb, how many times do I have to tell you-"

"No PADDs at the table." Icheb finished with a roll of his eyes. He held the device out to Seven. "I'm never going to finish my module now.."

"I'm more interested in your finishing your nutritional supplements." Seven dead-panned. Beside her, Mezoti snickered, leaning her head over to rest on Seven's bicep.

"I have to agree with my brother." Azan said, loading a particularly large blueberry onto his spoon and flicking it at Icheb. "You _are_ disgusting."

The blueberry hit Icheb on the chin, bouncing off and landing in Seven's water glass. He looked at Seven with an expression of barely supressed indignation. "Seven?!"

Seven gave Azan a warning glance. The twin smirked, bowing his head to hide his face. "Azan, be polite."

"Okay." said Azan, looking back at the teenager. "I'm sorry you're disgusting, Icheb."

Seven cut the teen's forward jerk with a hand to his chest. "Azan!"

This time, the twin shrunk in his seat, but not for worry of his older brother's retribution. Seven rarely had to pull out that biting tone of voice anymore, and its appearance pulled more weight because of it. Mezoti sat back in her chair and Rebi paused his breakfast mid-bite, eyes flashing from their foster to his brother and back. Azan tried to keep his face neutral even though he could feel his eyes were blown wide. "I'm sorry." said the boy.

Icheb was not as pacified as Seven. "You're gonna be-"

"Icheb."

One look at the steel blue eyes now turned to him pushed the wind out of Icheb's sails. "Apology accepted." groused the teen, using his napkin to wipe where the blueberry had hit. "May I be excused?"

At the request, Seven raised an eyebrow at the teen. "Where are you going?"

"Uh.. astrometrics."

"Very well."

"Can I have your-" Rebi began as Icheb stood, lifting his tray with him.

Icheb snorted. "No. You can't." he said, hurrying away to bus his tray before Sevon could get onto him again.

"Eat what you have, Rebi." Seven said gently. "We have seven minutes before the completion of our breakfast time."

"Yes, ma'am."

 **XXX**

In the corridor outside the messhall, crewman walked quickly to and from the mess. First shift was leaving to take up their stations for the morning and third shift was trickling in as they were being relieved. Seven walked with her head up, confident and free, and people moved out of her way as she went. The children had learned a long time ago that walking behind her was the quickest and safest place- even if people did whisper that they looked like a group of ducklings following after their mother. Mezoti didn't mind the comparison, at least.

"Hey, Seven!"

Rebi was the first to spin around at the sound of Tom's voice from behind them. Azan nearly stepped into him as he broke their little formation. "Lieutenant!"

"Hi, boys." Tom said congenially to the twins. He glanced at Mezoti, "And girls."

"Good morning, Lieutenant." Azan and Mezoti chorused.

Seven watched them approvingly before greeting the pilot. "Did you require my assistance, Lieutenant?"

"Actually, yes." he answered. "Neelix was telling me about an interesting little asteroid belt we should be coming up on. He said there was a small outpost called Selnia Prime where we could maybe get our hands on a few resources."

The blonde nodded once. "There is an asteroid belt aproximately four lightyears from our present location." She scowled lightly. "It is too dense to take Voyager through. We would incur considerable damage."

"Yeah." agreed Tom. "I was thinking about taking the Flyer."

"Very well." Seven nodded.

"I'll meet you in Astrometrics at 1030 hours to go over the flight plan." Tom smiled at the children, "See ya later."

"Bye, Lieutenant." said the twins. Mezoti offered him a little wave, leaning into Seven's side before they all turned to continue their march to the turbolifts.

 **XXX**

"I'm bored." Naomi dropped her brown-haired doll onto her blue bedspread with a sigh, not caring that the braid she had been attempting to weave into its hair came loose as she fell. The young half-Ktarian turned to her Norcadian best friend. Mezoti barely glanced up at her from the floor where she sat redressing her own blonde babydoll in a pink sleeper. "Maybe we should have went to the holodeck with Icheb and Rebi and Azan."

"They didn't want girls to play with them." Mezoti's blue eyes rolled. "They're afraid we would beat them."

The amusement was quick to leave Naomi, even though it would be satisfying to beat the twins at anything. She sighed. "Let's play something else, Zotti."

"What do you want to play?" Mezoti asked, doing up the final button on Harrietta's outfit. She lifted the slightly floppy doll up into her arms and began to rewrap her in a soft white towel.

"I don't know." answered Naomi with a shrug. "I just wanna do something else."

Harrietta was lovingly placed on the pillow that had been designated as her bed before Mezoti turned her full attention on Naomi. "Okay, then." she said, her eyes scanning over Naomi's bedroom. "Pick something."

Naomi put a finger to her chin in thought. After a few seconds of contemplatively scowling at her lap, she smiled as she looked up at Mezoti. "I know!" she said. "We can play dress-up!"

"How do you play that?"

"It's easy. We just have to go get clothes and dress up in them."

"But.. we are already wearing clothes."

The redhead slapped her hand over her forehead, careful of her own pointed horns. Sometimes she forgot that Mezoti still didn't know all the games that she did. "Yeah, we have clothes on, but we are dressed up like.. well, like us." she explained patiently. "When you play dress-up, you dress up like someone else. That's where it is fun. You pretend to be someone else."

"Oh." Mezoti pursed her lips. "I suppose we could exchange our outfits. We are of similar size and build."

"Um.. how about we dress up like my mom? That's what I usually do." Naomi suggested. "We can borrow some of her uniforms and be science ensigns."

"..Acceptable."

Samantha Wildman's closet was a simple affair in her bedroom, a small sliding door on the far side of the room beside her bed and next to the small bathroom. Naomi deftly opened the door and reached inside, pulling out two black uniform jackets with science green shoulders. She held one out to Mezoti before pulling on her own. The sleeves were too long, and the bottom hem hung down more like a labcoat than a jacket, but the sleeves rolled up easily enough. "There. How do I look?"

"That jacket is far too large." Mezoti said, her nose scrunching as she smirked in amusement. She attempted to put her own borrowed jacket on. "I don't think I'm going to have any more luck." Sure enough, her jacket fit her no better than Naomi's. She looked down at herself with a giggle.

"Now we are both science ensigns." said Naomi, shutting the closet door and heading into the bathroom to look in the mirror. "Like my mom."

Mezoti followed her at a more sedate pace, her face a frown as she looked in the mirror beside her best friend. "But.. I don't want to be your mom." she murmured.

"Well, I don't have any other uniforms." said Naomi, pulling down a little eyeshadow compact from the shelf by the sink. With a delicate fingertip, she rubbed a shimmery blue streak over each eyelid. "Want some?"

"No, thank you." the Norcadian shook her head, slipping out of the jacket. "I don't think I want to be a science ensign, either." She laid the jacket over the end of the bed. "If I'm going to dress up, I want to be someone else."

"Who?" asked Naomi, sweeping her hair back into a clip like her mother wore her own golden locks.

"You want to dress up like your mom." answered Mezoti. "I want to dress up like Seven."

"I don't have anything like what she wears though." Naomi turned her attention back to Mezoti. "She wears those biosuit things. I don't have anything that tight. Mom's clothes are all too big."

"Hmm." It was Mezoti's turn to tap her chin in contemplation. "I know where she stores her biosuits in the bay. We can go borrow one."

"Oh! Good idea!"

 **XXX**

"Here it is." Mezoti said in victory, pulling the silver fabric up out of Seven's storage crate, careful not to disturb the other items tucked away inside it- though she was curious about the contents. "She never wears this one." The girl held the silver biosuit up to her own body. "I don't know why- it's pretty."

"I don't think I remember that one." Naomi said from her seat on the dais of Icheb's alcove. "But it was a long time before my mom would let me anywhere on the ship if she knew Seven would be there."

The other girl frowned, turning a curious eye to her friend. "Why not?"

Naomi blanched. "Um, because, um.. I guess because.." She cleared her throat. "Maybe it was because she didn't know Seven yet?"

The frown eased off of Mezoti's face as the little girl gave a pacified nod. "Oh. I see."

A soft relieved puff of breath escaped Naomi's mouth before she could stop it. To distract from it, she hopped up from the dais and crossed to her friend's side. "Here, let me help you put it on!"

The biosuit was far too large for the willowy Norcadian, but with the legs bunched up around her ankles and calves, and the sleeves bunched up and rolled to her wrists, she managed to keep it on. As Naomi drew up the zipper, the only real problem became apparent in the torso of the biosuit. Mezoti tugged the front of the suit away from her body with a giggle. Naomi snorted mirthfully.

"The zipper won't go any tighter than that!" Naomi laughed.

Mezoti echoed her laughter, pushing the chest flat to her own. "I can't help it, Naomi! I'm only little!" There was a moment of silence then as the two girls locked widened eyes. Finally, both let out hearty belly laughs. Once they had calmed down several minutes later, Mezoti made a beeline for Harrietta on the dais of Icheb's alcove. "It's missing something though! It's missing something, but I know what I can do! Accompany me, Naomi!"

 **XXX**

"If you wait for the largest of this grouping of asteroids to pass, your path to the center will be almost a clear shot from one side to the other." Seven said to Tom, showing him on the large screen just what she meant. "That means a delay of two hours." she said apologetically. "But should you decide not to wait, I believe that you could-"

Tom waved her off. "Two hours is nothing. I'd rather wait and not bang up the Flyer." He snorted. "Last time, the Captain made me wait a whole week before I could repair her."

"Her?" Seven's nose wrinkled as she half-smirked.

The pilot let out a playfully offended chuckle. "Yes, her. My beloved ship."

Tal shook her head with a smile, standing at the nearest side console. "Is that what you call it when you polish her wings?" As soon as the comment excaped her mouth, her eyes widened in surprise. Jerking her head back to look over her shoulder, she could only describe the look on Seven's face as amusement and the look on Tom's face one of surprise. "I'm sorry!" she said, feeling all the blood rush to her own face. "I didn't mean to say that out loud.."

"I'll have you know that the alloy I chose for the Flyer's wings doesn't need polishing." Tom laughed. He didn't miss Seven pursing her lips to control her smile before she turned back to the screen. "I do, from time to time, polish the conn, though. Someone's gotta keep her pretty."

"Pretty or not, damaging the Flyer would expend precious resources to repair." Seven said, going over her flight plan once more. "That is likely why you had to wait a week before being allowed to repair the ship the last time you damaged it."

"But you admit she's pretty." joked Tom.

Tal was about to open her mouth to comment again, but the sight that spilled into Astrometrics was enough to give all three adults pause. Mezoti strode in first, her steps purposeful as she marched up to Seven in her baggy silver biosuit. Naomi followed quickly but with a more casual stride, her eyes apprehensively on the tall blonde Astrometrics officer her friend was attempting to emulate.

Seven looked down at her youngest charge with a little more than simple bewilderment. Of course, a redundant, ' _Is that my biosuit? Of course that is my biosuit._ ' and a quick, ' _Where did she find it?_ ' ran through her mind before she finally opened her mouth to speak. "Mezoti, what are you doing?"

At her tone, Mezoti dropped her eyes. Perhaps Seven did not want her to copy her? "I.. Naomi wanted to play dress-up." she answered, looking back up into Seven's eyes.

Naomi nodded. "I wanted to dress up like my mom." she said, twirling in her science ensign uniform jacket.

"But I wanted to dress up like you." Mezoti said resolutely. "Is that.. acceptable?"

There went that warm feeling in her chest again. Seven offered the two apprehensive girls a small smile. "It is acceptable." she answered softly. "Though, next time, I would prefer you to ask before going into my personal storage crate." She reached out and gave a gentle tug on Mezoti's sleeve. "Wherever did you find this?"

"It was.." Mezoti stopped before she told on herself just how deep she had to look and how she knew the location of said biosuit. "Just in your crate. I will ask next time. I'm sorry, Seven."

Tom couldn't hold in his snort any longer as Tal came to stand beside them. "Hey, Mezoti.." he said, gesturing to the filled-out chest of the biosuit the child wore. "What is all this?"

Mezoti glanced down at the fabric with a smile. "Oh!" she exclaimed, reaching down the neck of the suit. She easily yanked out her blonde babydoll. "I decided to use the extra fabric as a baby carrier." She smiled up at Seven. "It's a good idea, isn't it?"

The pilot let out a loud guffaw, surprised. "That's a great idea!" he agreed. "Is that the doll you named after Harry?"

A blush crossed the Norcadian's cheeks. "I didn't name her after Harry.." she said, stepping closer to Seven. "Harry is a boy's name."

"She named her in honor of Ensign Harry Kim." Naomi corrected, ignoring the look of surprised betrayal Mezoti shot at her.

Tal leaned down enough to be eye to eye with the girls. "You two are adorable!" she said. "All dressed up like your mothers! Have you shown Ensign Wildman yet?"

"Not yet." said Naomi.

"It's incomplete." Mezoti looked back up at Seven, distracting the blonde from her curious look at Crewman Celes. "I can't do my hair up like yours." She gave her braid a little pull. "I can braid my hair, but I can't twist it like you do. Will you do it?"

"That's the cutest thing I've ever seen." Tal playfully reached out and pinched Naomi's cheek. "Are you going to be working with us in Astrometrics in a few years?"

Her blue eyes were imploring as Mezoti leaned into Seven's side, wrapping her arms around her foster's ribs. "Please?"

Tom gently elbowed Seven's other side. "Yeah, Seven, please?" he teased in the same begging tone as the girl.

Seven looked down into the hopeful set of baby blues as Mezoti's bottom lip stuck out in an endearingly adorable little pout. The blonde ex-drone answered before her mind caught up to her mouth. "Very well, _sötnos_." she said before gently unravelling Mezoti's braid. "Turn around." The little girl let out an excited giggle, her pout widening into a pleased grin as she spun around. It took Seven only a minute or so to have the girl's hair pulled back into a simple but efficient french twist, pausing only to remove the long pin from her own hair to hold back Mezoti's. "There." she said, nudging the girl to face her so she could smooth the wispy strands back from her temples. " _Det är komplett. Söt_."

Mezoti giggled again, reaching up by Seven's face and gently pulling one of the blonde ringlets that had tumbled down her shoulders without the clip to hold them back. "Will my hair be curly like this when I take it down?" she asked.

"If you leave it up long enough." answered Seven, releasing her.

Naomi shyly toed the carpet beneath her, looking up at Seven through her lashes. "Seven.. will you do mine, too?" She looked at the neat updo on her best friend, the brown hair smoothed back to shining perfection. "Please?"

"Uh-oh." said Tom. "Now you've started it." He snickered. "Now every girl on Voyager is gonna want an updo."

"Every other girl on Voyager can learn to do it themselves." Seven rolled her eyes at him before looking down at Naomi. "You will have to retrieve my other clip."

"Okay. Where is it?" asked Naomi.

"It's in her trunk." said Mezoti, turning and jogging to the door. "I'll get it!"

"Wait for me!" Naomi called out, running after the brunette. "Zotti!"

"Woah, girls!" Chakotay's voice rang out from the hallway just before he stepped into Astrometrics, chuckling at the children he'd just dodged. It took a few seconds to catch his attention that they were dressed oddly. Trying to put his finger on what had struck him as odd, he met the group of officers at the middle console. "What were the girls wearing?"

"They're playing dressup." said Tom. "Naomi is supposed to be Sam."

"And Mezoti dressed up like Seven." said Tal with a smile.

The tattooed commander chuckled affectionately. "Well, that's a change." He smirked playfully. "For the better, I hope?"

"Perhaps. Can I help you, Commander?" Seven said, hiding her sudden discomfort behind her typical veil even as she wondered why the Commander's grin could make her stomach do a little flip behind the protective blue of her biosuit.

"Just after the report as usual." returned Chakotay, lifting the PADD set out for him off of the console. "Everything in order?"

"Of course."

 **XXX**

So far as the messhall food goes, a lot of Neelix's recipes were hit or miss. Some people didn't quite care for the spice. Others didn't prefer some of his more out of this universe flavor combinations. Still many could never get past the particular texture of certain dishes. It was a very rare occasion when all three of these maladies could come together to make one inedible dinner service, but today seemed to be one of those days. Neelix stood not a little glumly behind the galley, absently stirring a pot of gelatinous, purple paste and muttering about how next time he would add less leola root and more Veribium spices while the lines for the replicators grew across the room.

Mezoti certainly didn't mind this small change in routine. Since the food was inedible even by Seven's standards, she had allowed Mezoti to decide what they should eat for dinner. Instead of purple paste, the small Norcadian sat licking a slowly melting pink strawberry ice cream cone with a sweet smile on her face. She couldn't even taste the nutritional supplement Seven had insisted on programming into it.

Beside her, Seven preferred her strawberry ice cream from a bowl, taking dainty bites with a small fluted dessert spoon while she arranged the other children's ice cream cones into the opaque suspension platter Neelix had loaned her from his lonely galley. Once the lid was over the rest of the ice cream to keep it from melting, she glanced over at Mezoti beside her. The little girl had turned around in her seat beneath the window, leaning over the back of it to rest her elbows on the ledge. A line of pink sticky cream had melted down over the knuckles of the hand holding her cone while her lips and chin were smeared with it. "Mezoti?" The silver borrowed biosuit she had refused to change out of seemed to sparkle and shimmer in the bit of light afforded by the coccoon of the ship's shields, reminding Seven of why she had abandoned that color. It wouldn't do to walk around the ship like a disco ball.. she'd heard the whispers only too often.

"Yes, Seven?" the little girl asked softly, pulling her eyes from the stars seemingly shooting past them to rest on her guardian.

Seven put her spoon down to lift her napkin, reaching over and gently wiping the melted ice cream from the little girl's face. "Your ice cream is melting faster than you are ingesting it." she said, running the cloth over the sticky knuckles of Mezoti's dominant hand. "Perhaps you should have ordered yours in a dish."

"Ah, it's more fun like this." said Mezoti, taking a big slurp of the melting ice cream before turning back to the window. "You should try it."

"Another time, perhaps." She turned her attention to the blonde babydoll hanging from the curve of Mezoti's arm. The pink ice cream was dripping dangerously close to the doll's hair. "You're doll is going to become soiled." With a gentle tug, she pulled the doll from Mezoti's grip and slid it into her lap for safe-keeping, handing the little girl another clean napkin as she did so.

"Thank you, Seven." Mezoti murmured absently, her attention on the stars outside and the napkin balling up in her empty fist.

Across the messhall, the next people to walk through the doors were Icheb, Azan, and Rebi. The twins paused inside the threshold, their eyes roving over the lines at the replicators and the people gathered at the tables to eat. Finding Seven and Mezoti's table, they quickly hurried over. Icheb followed at a more sedate pace, pausing to greet Neelix even if he could tell right away that tonight was not a night to try the in-house food.

"Seven!" Azan said excitedly, sliding into a seat across from her. "Icheb let us pick our own holodeck program!"

Rebi slid in beside him. "We got to play-"

"-Captain Proton!" the twins chorused.

"I got to be Captain Proton!" said Azan.

"And I got to be-" Rebi gave his best imitation of an evil grin. "Doctor Chaotica, Ruler of the Cosmos!"

Azan pointed an imaginary plasma gun at Rebi. "You'll never beat Captain Proton, Doctor Chaotica! Pew-pew!"

"I will not be beaten by you, Captain Proton!" Rebi ducked under the table, weilding his own imaginary weapon. "EAT MY LASER-"

"Boys!" Seven cut in, scooting back enough to peer down at the frozen child now sitting at her feet. "You are no longer on the holodeck.."

"They've been doing this the whole way here." Icheb grumbled with a roll of his eyes, taking his seat at the end of the table.

"Settle down now, boys." Seven pressed the button on the suspension dish, releasing the seal. "Mezoti got to choose your lunches today." She glanced, at the little girl who was watching her brothers with an amused smirk. "Mezoti, take your seat, please."

"Zotti picked it?" Azan curled his lip. "Is it-" He caught sight of the pink ice cream in the girl's hand. "Hey! You got ice cream!"

"It's got a nutritional supplement." Mezoti answered, taking a long lick off her cone.

"Oh, boy.." Rebi said happily, receiving his chocolate ice cream cone like a badge of honor. Azan snorted, taking his own.

Icheb rolled his eyes again, lifting his ice cream cone with a curious expression. "But it is messy to eat this way." he half-heartedly complained. "Just look at Mezoti's face." He smirked. "Oh wait, that's just her face."

Mezoti's jaw dropped at his tease. Wide eyes turned to her guardian. "Seven!"

"Icheb." Seven put the lid back on the now-empty suspension dish.

"I'm only playing." said the teen, taking an experimental lick.

"Less playing and more ingesting your nutrients."

"Yes, Seven."

"Seven! There you are!" The children grew quiet as they looked up with Seven at the Captain's approach, weaving through the other tables to get to theirs. "I looked for you in Astrometrics, but you weren't there! Since when do you take your lunches in the messhall? I like it." She said approvingly, ignoring- or perhaps not seeing- the tinge of blush bleeding up Seven's neck. "You shouldn't stay so locked up in Astrometrics. Get out and mingle sometimes."

Seven drew in a steadying breath. "...yes. Captain, can I help you?"

Kathryn drew her brows for a moment. "Help? Oh, no, I was going to tell you that I uploaded my away mission report. I left the access open to senior officers."

Beside the blonde, Mezoti's eyes were drawn back and forth between her guardian and the captain. It was the first time she had ever seen her Seven squirm, and she wondered why that was. She knew what about the Captain made herself nervous, but not why Seven should feel that way. Uncertain, she leaned into Seven's arm as she watched the exchange.

"I will download it onto a PADD to read later." Seven said to the Captain.

Counting on her distraction, Icheb pulled his own PADD out and held it in his lap, scrolling down to the particular lesson he was currently reading. Blind but with pinpoint accuracy, Seven reached under the table and snatched the PADD from his lap without taking her eyes off of the Captain. Rolling his eyes, the teenager reached into the pocket of his cargos and pulled out his spare without missing a beat.

"Good. I'm interested to know your.. thoughts.. on.. it.." Kathryn said distractedly, catching the movement as Seven pulled the contraband PADD into her lap to join a blonde babydoll. She started to comment on why her protege would be holding a babydoll in her lap, but then realized that the four Borg children sat at the table around her. So intent was she on finding Seven, she had overlooked their presence.

"Children," Seven said to her brood, noticing that the youngest three watched her with wide, worried eyes. "Eat."

"Yes, ma'am." Azan said quietly, the first to look down and return to his ice cream.

"Hello, children." said the Captain.

The twins and Icheb chorused a greeting; Mezoti watched the Captain, quiet as a church mouse. When Kathryn looked at her expectantly, eyeing the spot where the little girl was leaned against Seven's arm, the eight year old stuttered out a soft, "Hello, Captain."

"Ice cream for lunch?"

Seven flushed, momentarily guilty for allowing such a decadent treat to replace a proper meal. "I- they were replicated with an added nutritional supplement." she was quick to defend, her eyes flashing down to her own half-eaten dish. "It is far more wholesome than what Neelix attempted to prepare for the day."

A soft snort breezed through Kathryn's nose, her eyes bright silver in mirth. "Oh, yes, I've heard quite a bit about his.. what was he calling it again?"

"Tuna surprise." Tom supplied, sidling up beside the Captain. He looked down at Rebi specifically. "Heya, sport, I have to run all the preflight checks on the Flyer tomorrow." He gave the young boy a friendly smile. "How would you like to come watch?"

"Really?" Rebi sat up straight, his face turning from Seven's to Tom's and back. "Can I? Please, Seven?" When Seven nodded her permission, the little boy turned back up to Tom with an excited smile.

The pilot reached out and clapped the boy's shoulder. "Maybe I can show you how to change out an eps converter." He leaned down like he was sharing some deliciously dark secret with the excited boy. "Just don't do all the grunt work, okay? Save some for poor Harry. Gotta keep him busy, too."

Rebi blushed scarlet with a delighted laugh. "Yes, Lieutenant!"

"See you tomorrow then, sport." said Tom. He waved at the others. "Bye boys, Seven.. mini Seven."

It was only then that the Captain caught on to what the youngest child was wearing. She eyed the silver one piece Mezoti was sporting. Another little frown creased her brows, but out of curiosity and not irritation. "Why do you have a biosuit on?" she asked innocently.

Rebi, seeing how his sister's eyes widened at being addressed, stepped in to help. Before he could get a word out, it was Azan who was the one to speak. "Well, Captain.." he began. "Mezoti is playing a game."

"A game? What kind of game?" Kathryn asked, a smile breaking over her face. Mezoti had now fully caught her attention, her big blue eyes watching the Captain carefully from her place butted against Seven's side. Deep down, she was both awed and surprised at the level of contact the child was maintaining with her notoriously fight or flight ward. "What are you supposed to be?"

Mezoti only blushed scarlet, tilting her head down and watching the Captain through her lashes, shaking her head. Azan came to her rescue. "She's Seven. Can't you tell?"

"Oh!" Kathryn took in the silver suit, the hair in a perfect mimicry of Seven's typical twist. The little girl even lifted an eyebrow at her in the same unimpressed gesture that her own guardian used. "Well, so you are. I used to do the same thing when I was a little girl. Starfleet brat. I was dressing up in my father's uniforms, too!" She pat Azan on the head, looking to Icheb. "Didn't feel like dressing up?"

Icheb looked up from his PADD at being addressed. "Captain?" Seven, spotting his replacement PADD, made an irritated scoff before reaching out and snatching it from his lap. He only smirked playfully at his guardian before turning up to shake his head at the Captain. "No, ma'am. I like being me just fine."

The chuckle Icheb's comment drew from Kathryn's lips was genuine. She clapped the young man on the shoulder. "We still have the signal going, you know." she said to him. "We may find another group of Brunali yet."

Icheb frowned, glancing sharply to Seven, but holding his tongue. The blonde had paled considerably in the space of a few seconds, her eyes darting to his before refocusing on the Captain as her Borg composure took over her features again. The younger three didn't have her level of discipline. The twins had caught the expression on Seven's face and watched her curiously. Mezoti burrowed closer to Seven's side, eyes wide as saucers directed at the Captain.

Kathryn, oblivious to the children's reaction, had already turned her attention back to her blonde ward. "Perhaps we will have more success in the next stretch of space. At least after we see what this Selnia Prime is all about." For a moment, the smile fell. "I will be glad to leave this bit of space behind us, but the ability to gather necessary supplies.. Do the Borg know anything about Selnia Prime?"

"Not to my knowledge, Captain." Seven said softly, letting Mezoti burrow under her arm.

If Kathryn noticed, she ignored it. "Hmm.. Well, I had better hit the replicator line before it stretches out to the turbolift." she said, turning to eye the far from dwindling queue for a second. When she glanced back at Seven, she gave her an appraising smile. "Carry on."

"Good evening, Captain."

Once the captain was out of hearing range, Icheb's eyes found Seven's again. "I think that if I never saw another Brunali, I would count myself lucky."

For a heartbeat, Seven began to agree with him, her head starting to dip into its tyical nod. She froze before she could complete the gesture, her eyes dropping from the teen's to rest on the little brunette head wriggling its way under her arm. "Icheb, you should not speak badly about your own species."

"I.. Yes, Seven."

"Seven?" Mezoti mewled, "Can we go? I want to go back home.. Can we go, please?"

"You haven't finished your nutritional supplement, Mezoti." Seven pointed out, pulling a napkin from the table and wiping the pink from around Mezoti's mouth before the girl could smear it across the front of her biosuit.

Mezoti dropped her the rest of her ice cream cone into Seven's empty dish. "I'm done. Can we go, please?"

Seven held back her scowl. "As soon as the others have finished."

"We will hurry." Rebi said, his concerned eyes moving from Mezoti to Seven and back. He took a big bite off of his ice cream cone.

"Seven.." Icheb said carefully, "Ice cream.. in cone form.. is considered portable. We could finish our nutritional supplements on the way back to the cargo bay." And where there was the cargo bay, there was his lessons- especially if Seven would let him skip their silly naptime to work on them. "I'm sure we could refrain from making a mess." He smirked at the pink icecream drying on the tip of Mezoti's nose. "Unlike some of us."

Mezoti was in no mood to be teased, shrugging the teenager's attempt off in exchange for turning wary eyes to follow the Captain as she was moved to the head of the line at the replicators. "Please?" she whimpered.

Before the small Norcadian could scoot her way into her already occupied lap, Seven set the doll and Icheb's PADD back on the table top, ignoring the teenager snatching it back. Mezoti was pulled up onto her knees. "Let's go wash your face, Mezoti." she suggested. That should give the boys a chance to eat, and give the little girl the escape she felt she needed. " _Okej?_ "

"..okay." Mezoti nodded once, her eyes still trailing the Captain as she spoke to Commander Tuvok and Neelix beside the galley. When Seven set her on her feet, she took the blonde guardian's hand. As they walked past the galley, she tried to be innocuous and small, clinging desparately to Seven's hand as she was lead out to the corridor.

 **XXX**

 **Love it? Hate it? Tell me in a review!**

 **~LM**


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